Excuse Me Miss Evans
by eyeshadow5746
Summary: Two years after Hogwarts Lily and James bump into each other again, and again, and again will they ignore the sparks or follow the signs-FINISHED
1. This Must Be A Nightmare

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1**Summary:** Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate? 

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognize. I probably don't even own the plot-someone must've snatched that up before me. If you feel the need to sue I'll drive my shopping cart down to the courthouse to apologize!

**Author's Note: **This is my new and _improved _version of what was recently A Portent of Love. I'm sorry that I never updated it. I got caught up in school, dance, track and all that fun stuff that never allowed me to update the story. When I went back and read it I was ashamed! _I can do better!_ I thought to myself. So here is my new story. More descriptive. Longer chapters. More of a plot! It's perfect...err maybe not... Oh and I borrowed the Quidditch scene from GOF...I'm not creative enough to come up with one on my own...

**_Midnight Goddess_**

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**Excuse Me Miss Evans**

**Chapter One: It must be a nightmare**

**By: Midnight Goddess**

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        The sun was shining with a golden morning glow as a young woman with beautiful, deep red hair basked in the sunlight as she stood in the window of a local coffee house, staring out into the clouds. 

        Meanwhile, a young man stood at the counter waiting to order. His messy black hair was flopped over upon his forehead. He rolled his deep brown eyes from underneath his silver framed glasses and sighed as the lady taking his order giggled and flipped her bleached blonde hair over her shoulder while scanning his body. The young man moved over to the counter to wait for his order.

        _Why must I be giggled at everywhere I go? _The man thought to himself as he walked across the café. _It is like I'm a light and the moths are drawn to me..._The young man glanced up at the girl again who was still flashing smiles his way. _Moths, but never butterflies._

        In an instant, while the young man with messy hair was deep in thought comparing his love life to bug behavior, the young girl with deep red hair finished with the cream and turned around, right smack into the man with the messy black hair.

        A shriek echoed throughout the café as the girl with red hair's pale face deepened until it matched the beautiful shade of her hair. The girl glanced down at her once crisp, brand-new white shirt. Her emerald eyes glinted in the sunlight with anger. 

        "You ass, watch where you're going! I have an important job interview in an hour!" The woman with red hair shouted to the man. Everyone in the café turned in their chairs to witness the drama unfolding for their morning entertainment. 

  


        "Evans?" The man with messy hair hesitantly questioned when she looked up from her shirt.

  


        Her eyes scanned the man before she responded, "Potter?"

        To the amazement of all the costumers sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for the man and woman to begin the drama, the man and woman were suddenly in each other's arms hugging. 

        "Lily Evans, I haven't seen you in two years!" The man shouted happily to Lily.

        Lily smiled up at James, who stood a head above her as she responded with, "Well James Potter, I've seen you," After seeing James' puzzled look she added, "in the newspapers. I hear you are a promising auror."

        James nodded his head as he said, "So Evans, since I ruined your shirt for your job interview, can I at least buy you another coffee?" 

        Lily nodded as she said, "Of course Potter, but I have to go get Bella, she is outside waiting for me."

        "Do you mean Arabella Figg?" James Potter asked.

        "The one and only!" Lily called over her shoulder as she proceeded to walk out of the door; without much luck. While Lily had her head turned she ran into another man, this time she ended up on the floor. Looking a sight with her red face, and stained shirt. 

        "Jamsie look," the man began, "girls still fall to my feet at the sight of me!" 

        Lily rolled her eyes as she responded with, "Not you too. This must be a nightmare." 

        The man looked down at the woman who he bumped into before sending his hand down and pulling her to her feet, "Lily Evans! There's a first time for everything." 

        When Lily looked up confused and embarrassed he said, "I'd never imagine _you'd _fall for me." 

        Lily just blushed and responded, "Are you ever serious?"

        Sirius beamed down at Lily as he cleverly joked, "I'm _always _Sirius."

        Lily rolled her eyes at Sirius as she said, "I'm going to go get Arabella, I'll be right back."

        Sirius called out after she had left with a hopeful glint in his eye, "Figg?"

        In a few minutes the four were sitting around a table drinking their coffee silently, each one wondering what to say to make up for the lack of conversation. Their past flew through their heads on fast forward, as they relieved all of the memories of each other silently, while no one spoke.

        "How has everyone been?" James suddenly asked in order to break the silence that surrounded the table like a blanket, keeping it trapped in and suffocating them with the lack of sound.

        "Bella and I are sharing a flat together," Lily responded softly, while looking into James' eyes. _He has really beautiful eyes_. Lily thought to herself, but she was snapped out of her trance when James asked, "Where are you working?"

        "I work for the _Daily Prophet_," Arabella responded glancing over at Lily with a small smile playing on her lips. 

        Sirius smiled at this as he softly said, "I've read your reports Bella."

        Arabella smiled warmly at Sirius as she asked, "Verdict?"

        "They were very helpful. Thanks to you, your highness, I now know what is going on in the dark war,"  Sirius joked. Bella just smirked at Sirius. 

        "I'm a Mediwitch," Lily responded, "I work for the ministry with healing charms. I'm on the team of Mediwitches and Mediwizards who heal the aurors." 

        "Sirius and I have been sharing a flat," James announced. Sirius nodded his head to James' statement, as though he were confirming its truth.

        "We're both aurors!" Sirius excitedly exclaimed. James glared at him.

         "Sirius the whole world doesn't know that, you never know who could be here," James scolded, "and we aren't even aurors yet we are still in training," James told Lily and Arabella. 

        Silence once again covered the table; until Arabella began laughing.

        "Who would have thought that we'd all end up having a civil conversation two years after graduation?" Bella giggled out. Lily joined in Arabella as she laughed at the absurdity of the situation. James and Sirius finally joined in, and before long all four of them were laughing hard. 

        "Lily do you remember when James turned your nose into a pig nose?!" Sirius laughed out. Lily blushed to a deep red as she softly responded, "yes." 

        "Lily and I got him back but putting tampons in his bag, and making it rip in the middle of transfiguration," Arabella choked out. At this comment, James turned a deep red, matching Lily.

        "Look, now they're matching!" Sirius pointed out, this caused Sirius and Arabella to laugh more. 

        "Jamsie, then there was the time when Lily turned your skin green for the Christmas Ball!" James grew even redder, if that was possible, as he looked hopelessly around to make sure no one was watching. 

        "He needed to look more festive," Lily shrugged as her excuse for doing the prank. She turned to smile at James as she added, "It would've worked best with his face this red." 

        James responded to this by saying, "That was the day that I caused you and Bella to loose your hair before your transfiguration presentation."

        Lily laughed remembering how angry she had been that day, "I got my first detention that day because I was trying to murder you, James."

        "Then there was the time that James charmed your robes to look like pajamas," Sirius laughed.

        Lily grew red, and so did James as he remembered how Lily had looked. Shaking that thought out of his head he laughed along with Sirius. 

        "Imagine what we could have done if we had been friends," Lily sadly said. 

        James turned to look at Lily after her quiet statement. Arabella and Sirius were already reliving more memories of their pranks on each other. When his eyes locked with Lily's his breath got caught in his throat. He regained his composure quickly enough to whisper back, "Those Slytherins would have been in hell." 

        Lily smiled, and she realized how close they were. His breath was tickling her ear and his eyes were locked with hers. _If I were to lean a little bit forward..._Lily shook the idea from her head as James backed away. They turned back to the conversation. Stealing glances out of the corner of their eyes, and remembering the feeling that their closeness had brought them.

~*~

        "Lily Evans!" Arabella yelled as she threw open the door to their flat. She raced into Lily's room and threw open the door. 

        "Lily Evans, get up this instant or you are going to miss the opening game of the Quidditch season!" Lily shot up out of bed at this comment.

        "What did you say?" Lily asked, unsure of whether she should believe Arabella, or if it was all a ploy to get her out of bed.

        "England versus Ireland!" Arabella screamed, "hurry up or we're gonna miss it, we need to leave in fifteen minutes." 

        "Fifteen minutes, Arabella?" Lily asked.

        "Yes! Now get your butt out of bed and get ready!" Arabella exclaimed. With this Lily flew out of her warm bed and into the bathroom without a word. Arabella just laughed as she went downstairs to prepare breakfast. 

        Ten minutes later, Lily flew into the kitchen. Her red hair was dripping down her back, wearing muggle clothes; jean shorts and a green tank top. She wore plain black robes over these clothes. She hurried over to the kitchen table, scarfed down her eggs and orange juice and stood ready to go. 

        Arabella just smiled and said, "Finally," 

        Lily smirked as she disappeared with a pop from the flat, Arabella not far behind. When Lily opened her eyes she was staring at the Quidditch stadium.

         Arabella yelled, "Lets go find our seats!" 

        Lily followed Arabella through the crowds, searching for their seats. Lily glanced around in awe at everything she saw. Even though Lily had been part of the wizarding world for many years now, she always managed to find new things that amazed her.

        Lily managed to get Arabella to buy Omnioculars. Lily squirmed in her seat, like a little child every two seconds, Lily showed Arabella something new they could do.

        "Lily, can you please get it through your mind that I'm not Quidditch obsessed like you," Arabella finally said.

        Lily lowered her Omnioculars and slyly asked, "Why did you get tickets then?"

        Bella just smiled as if she had been waiting for Lily to ask that question, "Well Miss Evans have you perhaps forgotten that it is your birthday soon?" 

        Lily beamed as she enthusiastically said, "Thank you Bella!" 

        "What did Bella do?" A deep voice asked from behind Lily.

        Arabella and Lily turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. When they realized who the men behind them were they started laughing. James and Sirius stood behind them with blank expressions.

        "What?" Sirius asked while looking himself up and down, wondering why they were laughing. When he found nothing wrong with his appearance, he looked over at James. He stared at both girls with a blank expression.

        Finally Lily regained enough composure to speak clearly, "Sirius, it is just ironic that we were mortal enemies in school and after two years we see each other two days in a row." 

        Sirius and James did have to smile at the odds of it happening. 

        "What did Bella do?" James asked once again.

        "She bought the tickets," Lily beamed, "for my birthday." 

        "Happy birthday," James softly told Lily. Lily grinned as she stared into James' eyes. _Who would have thought that James Potter would ever say Happy Birthday to me?_ Lily thought. _Who would have thought that I would be thinking James Potter has gorgeous eyes? _Lily erased the thought from her mind. 

        "Bella, will you come with me to get something to eat?" Lily asked.

        _She likes James, _Arabella thought to herself. _It's so obvious, the way she looks at him, and the way he looks at her._ Arabella smiled to herself at her newfound discovery. 

        "Lily, I'm tired. Can you please have someone else go," Bella told Lily. _That should help them. _Arabella thought in her mind. 

        "I'll go with you Lily," James quickly responded. At this Arabella smiled. __

_        They are so obvious._ She thought again as she sat down next to Sirius to get ready to spend hours watching a Quidditch game.

        Lily and James left their seats and began roaming the grounds. People were still filing in steadily with an hour left before the first game of the Quidditch season. Lily and James walked silently side-by-side searching for someone with a cart selling food. 

        _I wonder what he's thinking._ Lily thought as she studied James' face. James turned to look at Lily and their eyes locked. _Why am I thinking of Lily Evans this way? _James thought to himself as he continued to stare into Lily's emerald eyes. _The Lily Evans who you pranked mercilessly in Hogwarts. The Lily Evans who was better than you in Charms. The Lily Evans you Head Boy with. The Lily Evans with the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen._

        James and Lily snapped out of their trance when a vender apparated over to their spot. 

        "Bertie Botts every flavor beans! A risk with every mouthful!" the man shouted, "Candy, pumpkin juice..." the man continued shouting before Lily cut him off. 

        "I'd like to buy some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans," Lily said. She handed the man some money and her and James turned around and began to walk back to their seats. 

        "So you like Quidditch..." James began. _Why did I say that? Of course she likes Quidditch she was on the house team, she is at a Quidditch game..._

        Lily, however, didn't seem to notice the stupidity of James' statement as she responded, "I love Quidditch! Bella doesn't though, she just comes to see the players. I could care less about their bodies though. They play amazingly. I wish I could play like that, and be able to be as swift, and work as a team like them..." Lily rambled off.

        James smiled at her rambling. _Lily Evans is so similar to me. Why did we hate each other so much during school?_

        Lily's face scrunched up in a bad expression and James worriedly asked, "Lily, what is it? Are you okay?" 

        Lily swallowed and hesitantly said, "I hate tomatoes." 

        James laughed as they finally found their seats. Bella and Sirius were engrossed with each other laughing. So Lily and James took their seats next to each other and began to wait for the game.

        They only waited for a few minutes, because the announcer began to speak, the scoreboard was wiped clean of the ads that had been written upon it, and now read. **Ireland: 0**, **England: 0**, 

        "Ladies and Gentlemen...welcome to the opening game of the Quidditch season! Ireland versus England!" The crowd erupted in cheering and applause. Lily and James edged further up on their seats. 

        "Now for the Ireland National Quidditch team I give you... Troy, Morgan, William, Patrick, Ashby, Bard, aaaaaaand Collins!" The announcer shouted out into the crowd. 

        "For the English National Quidditch team I give you...Scott, Clapp, Dunstan, Fry, Heaton, Oswald aaaaaand Roberts!" 

        The players all shot out at the sound of the whistle. Their speed was amazing; their skill was unmatchable. 

        "THEY'RE OFF!" The announcer shouted as everyone's eyes turned to the game. It's Scott! Clapp! Dunstan! Troy! Back to Scott! Clapp! Morgan! Dunstan! The chasers were passing the quaffle back and forth so fast that the announcer barely had enough time to speak their names before the ball had moved onto another player. 

        "It's the Hawkshead formation!" Lily shouted above the crowd as she watched English chasers fly very closely together, with Dunstan in the center and slightly ahead of Scott and Clapp. 

        The chasers then moved onto a new play as Dunstan darted upwards with the Quaffle, with the Irish chaser Troy following him, quickly Dunstan dropped the Quaffle to Clapp, who caught the Quaffle with ease. 

        "Clapp scores!" the scoreboards was changed to **England: 10, Ireland: 0** and the game continued...

        Within thirty minutes the English team had scored twice more, bringing their lead up thirty to zero. 

        Suddenly, Troy stole the Quaffle out from Clapp's hands and flew off to the other side of the field. Passing it back and forth between the other chasers. Troy threw the Quaffle past Oswald, the keeper, and scored. 

        **England: 30, Ireland: 10**

Ireland once again gained control over the Quaffle, "Troy, Morgan, William, Morgan, Troy...Oh my gosh!" The announcer yelled as the stadium gasped simultaneously. The two seekers, Roberts and Collins, were speeding as fast as they could towards the ground. 

        "They're going to kill themselves!" Arabella screamed as she clutched onto Sirius' arm in fright. At the very last minute Roberts pulled up and flew off, whereas Collins hit the ground with a bang that echoed throughout the stadium. 

        "Roberts was feinting! Any idiot could tell that!" James yelled out into the crowd, upset over Collin's crash. "Time-out!" the announcer yelled, "Mediwizards are examining Joseph Collins!" 

        "He'll be fine Bella," Lily said reassuringly as Bella clung to the edge of her seat looking terrified, "he was only ploughed." 

        "Of course Roberts wanted that to happen..." James added, "It's called the Wronski defensive feint, it is a dangerous seeker diversion," James explained. Bella still remained confused, and it clearly showed through her deep brown eyes. 

        "Roberts never saw the snitch," Lily told Bella, "he was just making Collins follow him." Bella nodded her head in understanding. 

        After many hours of rough and merciless playing, England had scored eleven more goals. Bringing the score to **England: 140, Ireland: 10**. Bard the Irish keeper knocked Scott off of his broom as he tried to score. 

        "It's a penalty to England!" the announcer shouted over the roaring crowd of fans either cheering or booing. The Irish beater, Ashby clubbed Clapp nearly knocking him off of his broom. 

        "Its another penalty to England!" the announcer shouted as the Irish crowd yelled angrily at the referees. 

        "Troy, Clapp, Scott, Dunstan, Morgan, Troy, Clapp...Clapp scores!!" Once again the English crowd cheered, but their encouragements were barely heard over the insults, and angry calls shouted out by the Irish fans. 

        All of a sudden Collins dove into a dive. With Roberts on the other side of the field whose hand had just been hit by a Bludger there seemed to be no hope of Roberts ever catching up. 

        "He's seen the snitch!" James shouted to Lily, who was already on the edge of her seat watching as Collins dove down towards the ground. Roberts, surprisingly gained speed and was neck and neck with Collins reaching out for the snitch with his good hand, balancing on the broom.

        "They're going to crash!" Arabella screamed for the second time that evening as she watched the two seekers dive towards the ground. At that very moment Collins unable to grab the snitch crashed into the ground _again_.

        "Where is the snitch?" Lily asked, puzzled at the outcome of the seekers' chase.

        "Roberts caught it! Its over! The game is over!" James shouted. 

        Roberts, whose right hand was hanging limply beside him, held up the snitch with his left hand. The scoreboard flashed...

        **England: 180, Ireland: 160**

No one in the stadium seemed to realize the game's abrupt ending, then suddenly the cheering from the English fans grew louder as screams of joy flew throughout the stadium.

        "ENGLAND WINS!" The announcer shouted, "Roberts gets the snitch but England wins!" the announcer shouted sounding surprised. ****

Lily and James yelled in delight at the win of the game. Sirius and Arabella still seemed distant from the crowd and the game. As the four walked back to the designated apparated spot they said their goodnights and apparated back home. 

        Back at Lily and Arabella's flat, they stumbled to their bedrooms. Lily mumbled, "Goodnight Bella, thank you for the tickets. It was wonderful."

  


        "You're welcome Lily," Arabella responded before she dragged herself into her room to get some sleep. As she closed her eyes she smiled as she dreamt of her day and the events that had occurred. 

~*~

        "James have you checked out these new dungbombs?" Sirius called from across of _Zonkos_. James immediately turned and walked over to where Sirius was standing inspecting the new pranking items that _Zonkos_ had just received. 

        "Sirius don't you think you are a little old to be playing pranks?" James asked.

        Sirius just smirked, "You'd want me to think that wouldn't you."

        James just shook his head and said, "Sirius, isn't it a little _immature_?"

        Sirius laughed as a light bulb illuminated over his head, "So Prongs, do you need to become mature for Evans?"

        James looked horror-stricken. "Sirius, why would I want to become mature for her?" James asked unsurely. _What is Sirius hinting at? Does he actually think that I like Lily? How can Sirius think that? It's Evans! Evans! The Evans I've hated since I was eleven..._

"Come off of it Prongs, admit that you like her?" Sirius teased James as he continued to thrift through the pranking items. 

        _Great, Sirius actually thinks that I like Li-Evans! I need to call her Evans! No one will know that I like her if I call her Evans-wait...Did I just say like her? I don't like Lily-Evans! I DO NOT LIKE EVANS!_

"Sirius get it through your thick skull that I do not like Li-Evans!" James flubbed. 

        "Yes you do," Sirius began, "don't even try to start calling her by her last name, it won't work." 

        _Merlin! Can't he just leave me alone? _James thought. 

        "Prongs! Jamsie! James Potter!" Sirius shouted as he waved his hand in front of James' face.

        "I don't like Lily!" James immediately replied.

        "I wasn't saying you did," Sirius laughed, "I was going to ask you which dungbomb you thought would be the most effective...but since you put it that way, at least I know you were thinking of her!"

        "I was not thinking of her!" James shouted. The crowd in the store became quiet at his outburst. James turned a deep red, dragged Sirius to the counter to purchase their goods so they could leave as fast as they could.

        "Sirius can we please drop the subject?" James pleaded as Sirius and him dumped coins out onto the counter.

        "Jamsie, when have I ever dropped anything as important as this?" Sirius asked teasingly. 

        James' face grew increasingly red as he whispered harshly to Sirius, "Padfoot, I do not like Lily!"

        Sirius just laughed as he said, "Well, at least she hasn't totally taken over your mind yet, you still _bought _the dungbombs even if you were against them at first." 

        That was it for James. He turned around and stormed out of the store very angry with Sirius and himself for allowing Sirius to believe that he even liked Lily.

        _I can't believe Sirius thinks I like that...that...woman. I mean we **HATED**_ _each other at Hogwarts. Why should things be different now. Sirius should just be glad that I put those stupid fights behind us and I'm talking civilly to her now...for the first time in history. I've never been nice to her, not even when I met her, and now the moment that I am I'm in love with her._

Unfortunately James was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice a certain red-head walking, and laughing with a brunette walking down the crowded streets of Hogsmeade. He was thinking so hard that he stopped watching where he was going. His goal was just to walk, and get away from Sirius and his crazy thoughts. They were making him think too much. 

        Of course thinking to much is never a bad thing, but in James' case it causes him extreme embarrassment. Such as a few moments before right now; which leaves James lying on the ground in a popular wizarding village next to Lily Evans; the girl who caused James and her to fall, by occupying his thoughts.

        Despite everything that happened James' mind was still racing. _Wow this is nice. I try and forget about Lily Evans, and the possibility that I like her, and then I run into her. Smooth James just ruin your chances before you decide you want them. _

Lily also had many thoughts occupying her mind at the moment. _I cannot believe I just ran into James Potter. I despised him in school, loathed him. Now suddenly I find myself able to have a civil conversation with him. How is that possible? This is the third time I've bumped into him since Monday. Now we are both here lying on the ground in public, and I find myself enjoying it. This is insane. I can NOT like James Potter!_

Lily and James, who previously had been wrapped up in their own thoughts began to smell something unpleasant. James realized the scent and turned redder than Lily's flaming hair. Lily's eyes widened as she too realized the scent. __

"James you prat, can you not see where you are going?" Lily shouted to James who was sprawled out on the ground his arms and legs tangled with Lily's. At the sound of her angry voice both of them sprang apart and stood up as quick as lightning. 

        "Lily maybe you should move out of the way when someone is walking near you," James shouted right back at Lily, who was now red with anger, or possibly embarrassment.

        "Potter, you crashed into me, plus you caused all your dungbombs to go off on me!" Lily screamed back into James' face.

        "Evans, you were not paying attention either, you don't need to be a hypocrite the world is full of them. I just paid for those dungbombs and you ruined them!" James yelled back.

        "Potter, you are so immature, you still use dungbombs, you're nineteen years old grow up." Lily harshly said. James' ears turned pink at this comment, seeing as he had been trying to avoid this conversation with Lily. 

        Sirius noticed their exchange, and he turned his head to smile at Arabella who was standing there also quite shocked at the anger in their voices.

        Sirius leaned over, while Lily and James continued to yell and scream at each other and said, "Denial,"

        Arabella laughed as she nodded her head. They both turned to watch their friends yell at each other about whose fault it was that they fell. 

        "Shut up!" Arabella yelled, Lily and James became quiet, "Can you two just please be civilized and stop yelling at each other?" she shouted.

        Lily and James just glared at each other and moved further back from each other. 

        "Stop that act," Arabella ordered, "We also know that you are just trying to hide your feelings from each other, as well as yourselves."

        Lily and James tried to hide their faces, which were bright red with what they called, anger.

        "Sorry Evans," James forcefully whispered so only Lily could hear.

        Lily smirked and replied, "Ditto."

        "Now that we're on speaking terms," Sirius began, "how about be all go get a butterbeer on me?" 

        Arabella, Lily and James nodded their heads and they set off towards The Three Broomsticks. As they walked Lily and James became considerably closer than they were before. 

        _Lily smells nice. _James thought. _She smells like vanilla. God why does she have to make me feel like this? _James thought to himself. _It is not because I like her, because I don't...she's an old friend, no, I can't call her an old friend. She's an old acquaintance, an old enemy turned acquaintance. _

Lily watched James who appeared to be deep in thought once again. _I wonder what he is thinking about. _Lily thought. _He seems so caught up in something else. Maybe it's a girl...I hope it's not a girl. _Lily blinked as she looked around after thinking that thought._ Why shouldn't it be a girl, James is my friend, not my boyfriend. I don't even LIKE him that way. I never have and I never will..._

Lily and James' thoughts were interrupted when they arrived in the Three Broomsticks. Arabella grabbed a table, and Lily and James joined her. Arabella purposefully sat at the edge of the booth so Lily and James were forced to sit next to each other. 

        The booth was tight and Lily's knee kept brushing up against James'. She could feel all the blood racing towards her face whenever it would happen as she hid her face in her glass of butterbeer.

        _Why is this happening? _Lily cursed in her head, _Why does he have to make my blood pound and race throughout my body? Why does my skin tingle where I brush him? Why must he make all thoughts leave my head the moment he touches me? I hate him...I hate him...I hate him...I hate James Potter. I always have and I always will._

James was watching Lily, who was deep in thought, upset about something. Arabella and Sirius were off at the bar, getting another round of butterbeer for everyone. James gently touched her arm, "Lily what's wrong?"

        _Why does she do this? _James thought to himself. _I don't want her to make me feel this way. I can not live with her; I can not stand her. She's been my enemy ever since I've known her!_

Lily glared at James but as she stared into his eyes her look softened. Her emerald eyes glowed in the dimly lit room, as she searched James' chocolate eyes for something, anything. 

        "Butterbeer for everyone!" Sirius announced when he reached the table. Causing Lily and James to break their eye-contact. Lily and James turned away quickly and tried to not glance back. They searched out of the corner of their eyes, for a reaction from each other. 

        "Did I miss something?" Sirius asked teasingly knowing that it would upset his friend. 

        Lily and James quickly shook their heads no, too quickly. 

        Arabella and Sirius grinned at Lily and James as Arabella said, "Okay, drink up!"

        The four of them drank in silence. With crazy thoughts running through Lily and James' heads they did not have time for small talk; when one of the most important feelings throughout the world was coursing throughout their veins. 

        After the butterbeers were finished the four said goodnight, Lily and James barely nodded to each other, as they all apparated back to their houses. Thoughts racing throughout their minds untamed. 

~*~

        Lily walked down the sidewalk, the wind ran its fingers through her hair as she closed her eyes and felt the moonlight shine upon her face and kiss her cheeks. It was silent.

        Silent completely.

        Then, out of nowhere a pebble rolled down the sidewalk. Lily slowly opened her eyes to see two hooded figures walking down the street towards her. She turned away from them quickly; they were mysterious and dangerous. Lily could sense it.

        _What is going on? _Lily thought to herself as she turned away from the two figures dressed in black. Only to face two more figures dressed exactly the same as the two behind her. 

        Lily just stood there. In awe, or in fright. Either way she could not bring herself to lift up her foot to move. There was some control that these figures had over her. They intrigued her. She wanted to know more about them, what they were they for, who they were. 

        Slowly she saw their wands being pulled out, as swords. Wands were intended to be their weapons. Lily's green eyes widened, as she understood. She turned, but yet again there were more figures walking out on the street. Before she could yell a hand was clamped over her mouth and reached around her waist to pull her into a dark corner where she had been standing. The figure that grabbed her pulled her with him until she was completely out of sight, never removing his hand from her mouth or her waist. 

        "Mister, I don't know who you think you are but if you do not remove your horny hands off of my body I will hex you to kingdom come!" Lily screamed as she turned around the face the man who had pulled her out of danger. He quickly dropped his hands from her body, and immediately she felt herself shiver from the lack of warmth that she had been receiving.

        Lily's fiery green eyes stared into two warm chocolate brown eyes, which happened to belong to James Potter. They just watched each other for a minute until Lily's face widened into a smile.

        "Thank you for saving me James," She whispered. Lily and James were still standing quite close to each other in the darkened corner, and were still hiding from the Death Eaters. 

        "It was no problem Lily," James replied softly. He could feel her breath on his neck and it took all of his self control to contain himself from touching her soft skin once more. 

        Lily smiled once again as she lowered her voice and whispered, "I'm sorry I yelled at you." 

        James just grinned and said, "Its no problem Lils." 

        _Why does she have to control me like this? _James wondered silently. _I have no control over myself when she's around me. I want to touch her and I want to hold her. All I think about is her. Why does she have such a hold over my brain?_

_        James seems to have this hold over me. _Lily thought. _He makes me feel different than anyone ever has. How can he do that? I swear that when he touched me warmth spread throughout my body, and when his hands left I was shivering and cold. I felt lost. With him I'm home...Why does he do this? What does he have that possesses me to feel this way?_

"We should apparate," James finally said.

        Lily just nodded as they both apparated to Lily and Arabella's apartment. When Lily and James appeared in the kitchen, Arabella's face broke into a smile.

        "Lily I've been so worried about you!" Arabella shrieked when she saw Lily, "I called Sirius and he said he didn't know where James was...I knew you two would be together!" 

        "Lily had a run in with some death eaters Arabella," James sternly told her, recognizing Arabella's teasing tone to be the same tone that Sirius used with him earlier that afternoon.

        "So you weren't-I mean you didn't," Arabella stumbled over her words.

        "No!" Lily shouted, quite loudly, James looked over shocked, and as Lily glanced into his inviting eyes she thought she saw something that mirrored hurt lurking deep within his eyes.

        _Lily doesn't like me. _James thought to himself. _She doesn't like me and I don't' like her. I was right, Sirius was wrong, why would he ever think that Lily would like me? And I would like Lily? Hmph yeah right._

"I'm going to leave," James mumbled as he got ready to apparate. 

        "Wait!" Lily shouted at James when he began. Lily threw her arms around James and hugged him. 

        "Thank you for saving me," Lily whispered. Then she turned and walked into the back of the apartment into her room and shutting the door. Arabella blinked and James was gone.

_        What was that? _Arabella wondered, _If something happened wouldn't Lily have told me? James was so startled, nothing could have happened. He was startled but happy. He must love Lily, just like she loves him! This is perfect!_

With happy thoughts of love dancing in her head Arabella walked into her room and shut her door, as Lily had, drifting into a deep peaceful sleep.

~*~

        Lily browsed through the strawberries in the local supermarket trying to find the best box. 

        "Bella, what do you think of these?" Lily asked Arabella, who was staring at the worker who was unloading boxes onto shelves, his muscles were showing and Arabella was marveling in their beauty. 

        "Bella!" Lily shouted once again to try and gain Arabella's attention. 

        Arabella finally turned her head tossing her dark brown hair over her shoulder and responding with, "Lily, you were head girl, and you are the top mediwitch in England I think you are capable of picking out strawberries."__

Lily just smirked at Arabella, who turned to watch the employee unload more boxes. Lily just sighed and continued looking through the strawberries, unable to decide which box she wanted. Her mind was so set on the task that she was unable to notice two men standing only a few feet awaywith messy black hair. 

        James was pulling bottles off of shelves and inspecting the label of each one before replacing the bottle back on the shelf and pulling out another one, which was often identical to the one he had pulled out before. Sirius was pushing the cart back and forth, ramming it into James' back.

        "Sirius stop being a prat!" James shouted at Sirius. 

        "Prongsie, lighten up. It's only your mother that you are making dinner for," Sirius laughed.

        "It is not just my mom! Its my dad too! And if I do not do this well my parents are going to think that I have never grown up and that I'm still an immature brat like I was in school," James shouted at Sirius.

  


        "This is really about Evans isn't it?" Sirius asked.

        "Argh!" James yelled at Sirius as he replied, "It is not about Evans okay. I do not like her, she does not like me! This is about my family's views. What they think of me is important."

        "Jamsie, you are going to be one of the top aurors, and you were Head Boy, how can they still think you are immature?" Sirius asked.

        James did not have a response to Sirius' comment, so he just continued reading the labels on bottles and placing them back on the shelves. 

        "Are you ever going to pick one?" Sirius asked.

        James turned and glared and Sirius, who backed off into the cart. The cart rolled down the isle at a fast speed as Sirius fell on the floor. James looked to see what had caused the loud thud. As he saw Sirius laying on the floor and the cart rolling down the isle at a woman with deep red hair he yelled, "Sirius you ass!"

        Sirius got up just in time to see the lady be hit by the cart and knocked off-balance and fall to the floor. 

        "Miss!" James ran towards the lady yelling, "Miss I'm so sorry! My friend accidentally pushed the cart down the isle..." James trailed off as the woman responded.

        "Why do you keep hurting me Potter?" Lily mumbled from underneath the cart.

        "Lily!" James yelped as he helped to pull Lily up from the floor. 

        "Is anything broken? Do you have a headache? Can you see okay?" James began asking Lily.

        "James, I'm the mediwitch here," Lily mumbled as James began to feel her head to make sure she was okay. 

        "James, I am fine!" Lily shouted. James dropped his hands from her head and looked down at the ground sheepishly. 

        "Did I ruin anything this time?" James softly asked as his eyes reached up to meet Lily's.

        Lily smiled warmly as she laughed, "Nothing of mine..." James turned to look at his shopping cart. His packages were spilled across the floor. Bottles were leaking and boxes smashed.

        "Lily what happened?" Arabella asked as she walked up to see the mess.

        "James tried to kill me again," Lily joked with Arabella who looked up to see James and Sirius standing across from Lily. They all looked down at the packages once more.

        "Do you really eat that much?" Lily teased James as she lightly punched his arm.

        "No!" James answered protectively, "Uh...well I'm cooking dinner for my family, and I have to make it perfect because if it isn't then..." James trailed off.

        "You can't cook can you?" Lily softly asked James so Sirius and Arabella could not hear. They had already walked off to find someone to clean up the mess. 

        "Er...no I can't," James finally replied awkwardly. 

        Lily giggled as she looked into James' coffee brown eyes, "I could help."

        _Her giggle is so different than everyone else's. _James thought amazed. _All the other girls force their giggles. They sound so fake; Lily's is so natural..._

James' face brightened at the thought of Lily helping him cook, "Thank you Lily!" James shouted as he hugged Lily tightly. The quickly pulled apart, blushing, when they realized that Sirius and Arabella had returned.

        _Why does he make my heart race? _Lily wondered. _He's no different than anyone else I know. The only difference is he's my enemy turned friend. Is that possible? Can someone be your greatest enemy one day and the next be your best friend? _

"Can you come at four Sunday?" James questioned eagerly, "My parents are coming at seven."

        Lily nodded her head and waved goodbye, because Arabella was pulling Lily down the isle to collect their groceries that they came to buy.  

        "Oh Lily! Bring a change of clothes. You are welcome to stay for dinner," James shouted to Lily who turned around and smiled before she walked around the corner with Arabella.

        "You're going on a date with James!" Arabella shrieked once James was out of earshot. 

        "It is not a date you twirp," Lily quickly told Arabella as she grabbed a gallon of milk, "I'm helping him cook dinner for his parents," Lily blushed.

        "But you are staying to eat afterwards," Arabella teased Lily, causing her to blush even deeper.

        "To eat with him and his family," Lily responded softly.

        "Admit that you want it to be a date!" Arabella shrieked to Lily who blushed a deeper red than before.

        "I do not!" Lily protested.

        "You do!" Arabella shrieked, pointing at her blushing cheeks. Lily just lowered her head knowing that the battle was lost.

        Meanwhile, in the checkout line, James and Sirius appeared to be having a very similar conversation.

        "You and Evans looked cozy a few minutes ago Prongs," Sirius teased.

        "Lily is doing me a favor Sirius, don't make something out of it that isn't true," James warned.

        "You know that you want to snog her!" Sirius teased once more.

        "Do you think of anything else Sirius?" James asked as he rolled his eyes at his friend.

        "I do not," Sirius replied, while winking at James and the lady behind the cash register who was ringing up their food. 

        "She's helping me cook," James argued, "you have seen me cook!" 

        "She's staying for dinner!" Sirius added.

        "With me and my family," James told Sirius.

        "Afterwards you are going to start snogging her Prongs, I know you are!" Sirius teased once more.

        "Damn you! I do not want to snog Evans!" James shouted at Sirius as he stormed off. Sirius paid for the food and apparated after James.

        "Someday you'll learn Prongs."

**End of Chapter one**

**Authors Note: I hope you enjoyed that chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. 17 pages just for you! Well I have other stuff to do I just finished adding the HTML codes in so hopefully it will look nicely. Please review! Please!**

**Midnight Goddess**


	2. I Resent That Comment

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1**Summary:** Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate? 

**Disclaimer: **I woke up this morning and typed and typed and typed. Here is the result. A fanfiction about Lily and James! My favoritest characters that I created. Then I looked in the mirror and realized. I'M NOT J.K. ROWLING!! (ps: that means I don't own anything)

**Author's Note: **Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the wonderful encouraging reviews! I appreciate it!! Since I didn't do this in the last chapter I want to thank my WONDERFUL beta readers that have spent so much of their time going over my LONG chapters and offering me advice. SO THANK YOU!! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I made it long once again, hopefully you will all enjoy it as much as you enjoyed the first one! I just have to point out that I loved Order of the Phoenix! I cried so much over the death in the book that my parents thought I was crazy. Now I'm in a struggle with my fics because Arabella Figg is indeed an old lady. I will work it into the story that this is her daughter or something...somehow. James was a prat just like I imagined him! Hehe but he did change...like I made him. Of course it was in their 7th year and now this has gotten WAY too long so I'm stopping!

**Midnight Goddess**

.....................................................................

**Excuse Me Miss Evans**

**Chapter Two: I Resent That Comment**

**By: Midnight Goddess**

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                The sun was beaming down in rays of golden yellow upon the street in Diagon Alley. Two young witches were walking down the street chatting, seemingly unaware of the world around them. 

          "Lily, do you need new robes?" Arabella questioned as they stopped outside of _Madame Malkin's Robes For All Occasions._ Lily shook her head as she followed Arabella inside the crowded room and glanced over the hundreds of colorful robes that were on display. 

          "You should buy some more dress robes Lily," Arabella suggested with a gleam in her eyes that made the purpose of the robes clear to Lily. 

          "Oh no! I do not need dress robes for _that,"_ Lily told Arabella sternly, Arabella of course just shook her head with disbelief as she searched through the robes for something that suited her.

          "Lily, you do want to make a good impression on his parents!" Arabella teased. The teasing tone missed Lily's ears as they turned bright red matching her face, and her hair. 

          "What for?" Lily shakily said. '_I know what Arabella is thinking about. She thinks that I should buy robes for Sunday when I go help James cook. I don't think that requires new robes. Sure, I'm going to meet James' parents, but as a friend, I'm not dating James and I have no intention of dating him ever.'_

          Arabella shook her head at Lily who was deep in thought. "She'll realize it someday," she muttered underneath her breath as she continued to glance through the robes, watching Lily try and sort out her feelings. 

          "These robes are beautiful," Lily gushed out as she pulled out a deep green pair. They blended with her eyes, and her hair stood out wonderfully against the green shade.

          "So you are going to buy dress robes for Sunday?" Arabella questioned, her brown eyes alert, hoping the confession would come out sooner than expected. 

          _'Why did I say that?' _Lily asked herself. '_I should know better than to make any unneeded comments around Arabella. All she does is twist my words around. Now because I made some silly comment about some pretty green robes, Arabella thinks that I want them to impress James. Argh, the things I go through with her.' _

"I didn't say I wanted them," Lily snapped back at Arabella.

          Arabella smirked as she replied, "Lily, it was implied." 

          _'Arabella really thinks that I like Potter. It wasn't implied. It's just her crazy mind coming up with ideas. I'm sure that James isn't having this problem with Black. I bet they laugh about Bella and me all the time, yet Bella can't see that. It's all to annoy me...'_

"I don't feel that way about him, Bella," Lily sighed out as she continued to glance over at the green robes that hung on a rack a few feet away.

          "Yes, you do," Arabella said in a matter-of-fact tone as she continued keeping her smiling face out of Lily's view as she searched for her robes.

          "I don't like Potter! I resent that comment!" Lily shouted, causing many other customers to glance over at her with intriguing faces. Arabella just smiled.

          "Of course you do, Lils," Arabella replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

          "No, Bella, I don't!" Lily forcefully said, trying to keep her voice at a lower level. 

          "Think what you want to, it doesn't make it true," Bella whispered into Lily's ear.

          _'Can't she just drop the subject and leave me alone?' _

"I really don't like him!" Lily burst out; around ten minutes after the conversation had been dropped.

          '_Lily is so clueless.' _Arabella smiled to herself. _'Of course they always said that love is blind, I guess there is truth to that. She was thinking of him. That's what she was doing for the past ten minutes before she felt that she should say something...'_

By now, the two young witches had left _Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions,_ and were headed down the streets of Diagon Alley. __

_          'I cannot believe that Arabella actually thinks that I like James. James Potter! The James Potter that hates me and I hate back with as much passion that I can put into the feeling. How can I be in love with someone like that?'_

They did not notice James walking down the street holding a bag of potions and ingredients. Of course, they noticed James once he was lying in the middle of Diagon Alley on top of Lily.

          Lily who had, in fact, bought the stunning green robes found her package lying on the ground next to James'. James, of course, was found lying above Lily. Their faces both bright red. Neither of them moved.

          "Sorry Lily," James mumbled, his face was crimson and he noticed that many people walking by were staring at the two adults lying in the middle of the sidewalk. It is unusual to find such acts as these, even in the wizarding world, where the unusual is the usual. __

_          "_It's okay," Lily mumbled back, her face was equally as red as James, yet despite their embarrassment, both had not even suggested moving. 

          '_He has the brightest brown eyes I have ever seen..._' Lily trailed off in her own thoughts as she stared into James' eyes, forgetting the surroundings and the exclaims of anger the shoppers shouted as they walked around Lily and James. __

"We should move," James lightly told Lily when he realized that he was still lying on top of her in the middle of Diagon Alley.

          "We should," Lily responded; still staring into James' bright coffee colored eyes. 

          _'Her eyes are so deep. They cause me to drown, to fall. I don't want to prevent it; I yearn for it. I live for the feeling of helplessness that washes over me when I dip myself into those emerald pools.'_

"We aren't moving," James muttered after a few more minutes of lying on the ground.

          "You're on top of me," Lily responded tenderly, as if she regretted causing James to move. He bolted up and held out his hand to help her up, but dropped it quickly when she was safely on her feet. 

          "I need to go," James murmured as he turned quickly and left Lily and Arabella standing in the middle of the sidewalk. 

          "Don't say anything," Lily warned Arabella as she apparated to their apartment. Her mind was running and she needed to think.                                         

          _'How can I feel like this around him. I don't want to be this way around him. I don't want him to make me weak in my knees, or to make my heart beat extra fast when I see him, hear him, or think of him. I don't want him to cause me to loose my mind, and to control my thoughts. I don't want him to do this to me...but he does and I enjoy it.'_

~*~

          The bell on the door jingled as Lily stepped into a small café on the edge of a small wizarding city called _Godric's Hollow_. As she waited for someone to come help her, she glanced around the cozy, and warm café.

  


          "I see you everywhere," a warm, deep voice whispered from behind her. Lily smiled; she could recognize the voice. Lily turned around, her emerald eyes glowing in the dimmed room, facing a tall man, with deep coffee eyes that made her melt.

          "Table for two?" the hostess asked when she returned and saw Lily and James standing waiting for her. 

          "We aren't —" Lily began to say before James cut her off.

          "Yes, please," James replied while he brought his hand up to ruffle his hair, it had become a habit to make his hair as messy as possible during Hogwarts, and the habit had not fled now that they were grown and away from the comforts of their old school.

          Lily looked up and caught James' eyes, which shone back at her as he grinned. Lily returned the grin as they walked back to their table. _'Why do I see him everywhere I go?'_

          When they were seated at their table, which was next to a large window that showed the streets of Godric's Hollow,Lily looked out of the window with interest, watching the witches and wizards walking down the street, avoiding James' eyes; which were staring absorbedly at her. 

          "How have you been since, er, I last saw you Lily?" James asked blushing.

          Lily tore her eyes away from the window and smiled as she answered, "I've been fine, except for a bruise I have on my elbow. How have you been?" 

          "I'm sorry about your bruise, I should have been watching where I was going," James quickly shot out, as if he were afraid Lily was going to start yelling at him again. 

          "It's okay, really," Lily trailed off as her eyes raced towards the window once again, dreading contact with James' hazel eyes. 

          "This is weird," James softly said as he fiddled with his napkin and turned his eyes to the window, catching a glimpse of Lily's reflection in the mirror.

          "Why?" Lily questioned as she turned her head to look at James. Her green eyes glinted in the sunlight and James' breath caught in his throat. '_She has to look at me like that. Why does she have to do it? Why does she have to have those eyes?'_

"I know you hated me during school," James replied as he turned his hazel eyes down onto the table and warped his napkin even worse as he desperately tried to keep his eyes away from Lily's.

          Lily sighed. _'Of course I hated him during school. He was an egotistical prat that didn't care for anyone but himself. He teased the Slytherins, tortured those who annoyed him, and flirted with every girl he met. How could I not hate him? But then... he changed. I tried to still hate him, but it was impossible, and here we are, and I find that those old feelings of hatred have left me completely, and he believes that they are still there. He's afraid that they are still there.'_

"Of course I hated you during school James," Lily sighed out finally after minutes of silence.

          "I guess I deserved it," James replied softly as he raised his eyes to meet with Lily's. They didn't talk as they just watched each other's expressions.

          "Yes, you did," Lily replied, a little harsher than she meant to. James' eyes glinted at this comment. _'She must still hate me. I can sense it, she is still hostile towards me. She still can't put behind those feelings of anger towards me. I don't expect her to, I don't expect her or Snape, Malfoy, or any of the Slytherins to. I don't think that they will ever realize that I have changed and that I hate the fact that I was like that before.'_

          "You always had to keep your hair messy, you always messed it up. You thought it was cool, like you had just gotten off of a broomstick. I hated when you did that," Lily ruthlessly replied. James quickly brought his hand down from his head where he was about to mess it up again. 

          "You always caused trouble with Remus, Sirius, and Peter," Lily continued, "It seemed as if your lives were based on the fact that you wanted to hurt other people."

          James turned his eyes downwards. '_Everything she says is true, I was horrible. I didn't care of other people's feelings. I didn't care how bad they felt afterwards it was all for my own amusement. If I could change everything I did to those people I would. I would give up my life to change what I did to those people...if Lily wouldn't hate me.'_

"You and Sirius acted like you wanted every single girl in Hogwarts to notice you, and most of them did, but you ignored them," Lily spat out.

          '_I didn't want every girl in Hogwarts to notice me and Sirius. I found it was more of a burden than anything. There was really only one girl I wanted to notice me, and she did, but she never noticed me in the way I wanted to. I tried everything to get her attention, and she hated me for it, and I hated her for hating me.'_

"Then you always had that stupid snitch, letting it fly around and catching it. I hated it when you did that. You were always showing off, _always_!" Lily shouted out, a little louder than before. Many people had turned around to see what was going on. 

          _'If she could only realize that I did everything for her. That I loved her, that every single thing I did, was for her. To impress her. I was so young and clueless back then, if I could have only seen that everything I did made her hate me, more and more and more.'_

"Then you were so horrible to Severus Snape," Lily began, James' eyes darkened, "calling him Snivellus," 

          _'How could I have done everything to him?_ _I did it to show off, to try and catch her attention, and it did, but not in the way I would've wanted it to. I ruined everything I could've ever had with her by doing those things to Snape. I tore my chances down, and threw them away when I did that.'_

"You made me sick," Lily finished. Her face was red with anger and she looked down to avoid James' gaze.

          '_Of course I made her sick. I made myself sick, she told me countless times how horrible I was. How she hated me, and that only made me hate myself.'_

"I should probably go then," James whispered as he stood up to leave.

          Lily's eyes scanned his face. _'He feels horrible about everything. I can tell.' _

"I said you _made_ me sick," Lily whispered as she grabbed his arm. James' eyes grew as he shakily sat down across from Lily Evans. 

          "You changed," Lily whispered as she watched James' hazel eyes light up with excitement. 

          '_She doesn't hate me! She doesn't hate me! She forgives me for everything I did! I still have a chance!'_

"I'll admit that you still have that horrible habit of messing up your hair, but I haven't seen you carrying around a snitch lately. You changed, you stopped torturing  Severus, and you stopped hexing everyone that annoyed you, and you _don't _make me sick," Lily finished softly.

          James' eyes met Lily's as he sighed in relief; "I hate myself for doing that," 

          '_He really has changed. There is no doubt about it. The James that I used to know would have never admitted he was wrong. His head was so big that I was afraid it was going to explode, but this James is still the same in many ways, but has lost so much of the qualities that made me hate him.' _

"Don't hate yourself for stupid mistakes, everyone makes them," Lily tried to soothe James.

          "I can't not hate myself for doing what I did!" James shouted, once again attracting attention of the customers in the shop.

          "You were young! Everyone does stupid things when they are young!" Lily shouted back at James.

          "Not everyone makes almost everyone hate them including the person they were trying to attract the attention of!" James shouted back into Lily's face. He turned scarlet after he realized what he had just blurted out. Without another word he sank back down into his chair and clamped his mouth shut.

          "Not everyone hated you James!" Lily forcefully replied; her voice lower than it had been moments before. 

          "Of course Sirius, Remus, and Peter didn't hate me," James trailed off without finishing his train of thought.

          "I didn't hate you," Lily whispered softly.

          "Yes, you did," James feebly replied to her.

          "I tried to, and sometimes I did, but it always changed," Lily whispered back.

          "I should go," James said glancing at his buzzer which was vibrating quickly in the café. 

          "Goodbye," Lily whispered into the open spot before her, and then she stood up and apparated as quickly as James had.

~*~

          "You didn't snog her then?" Sirius questioned as he bounced up and down on James' sofa with interest. 

          "Of course I didn't snog her!" James shouted back, his face was cherry red and he kept bringing his hand up to mess up his hair and flinging his arm down by his side. 

          _'How can she make me this unsure of myself, this crazy, this insane? It's criminal I can't sit still. I can't think. I just am, and I find myself watching every single thing I do. I find myself turning my head as fast as I can at every glimmer of red that passes me when I walk down the street.'_

"Prongs, you need to learn," Sirius said as he calmed himself down and was now watching James pace back and forth throughout his room flinging his hands up and down as if he were unsure of what do with himself. 

          "WHAT DO I NEED TO LEARN!" James screamed, clearly confused. He began pacing quicker and seemed even more angry as he was almost walking in a circle. 

          "How to deal with girls," Sirius answered simply as he stood up and began to walk towards James' kitchen. 

          "I KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH GIRLS!" James screamed in Sirius' face as he blocked his entrance into the kitchen forcing him back onto the sofa. 

          "No, Prongsie, you don't," Sirius replied loudly as he struggled to get up. 

          "What do I need to know?" James questioned, still quite loudly, but softer than his screaming tone that he had been using moments before. 

          "First of all, don't' bring up certain times when you used to hate each other," Sirius laughed out, realizing for the first time that it was a mistake.

          "You mean when she used to hate me?" James questioned as he sunk down into his red, plush chair across from the sofa Sirius was seated on.

          "No, I mean when the hate was mutual, when you two couldn't stand each other. When you two would spend every minute of you day making each other's lives miserable. When you couldn't carry a civil conversation, when you two couldn't even look at each other without hexing each other so bad that you both ended up in the hospital wing. When the feelings were mutual," Sirius responded, slightly out of breath.

          "The hate was never mutual," James whispered out so softly that it couldn't be heard by Sirius. 

          '_I fooled everyone. I fooled my best friends, I fooled my teachers, I fooled Lily, at the time I fooled myself, looking back I was never quite convinced, I'm still not.'_

"What did you say?" Sirius asked loudly.

          "You heard me!" James shouted once again his voice echoing off the small walls of the apartment. 

          "I don't think I did!" Sirius shouted right back. Both Sirius and James were standing right now and facing each other, their faces red and their hands clenched. 

          "It's none of your business what I said!" James unreasonably reasoned with himself.

          "Of course it is!" Sirius shouted right back into James' face his fists clenching harder.

          "What makes you think that?" James questioned loudly.

          "First of all I'm your best friend," Sirius yelled right back at James, quickly without taking a break. 

          "Just because you are my best friend doesn't mean you need to know every little thing that haunts my mind every time I think or sleep!" James shouted out with a passion that made his body quiver. __

"Of course not," Sirius yelled back, "but I believe you were talking to me!" 

          James opened and closed his mouth many times before he sunk down into his chair moaning, "What am I going to do?" 

          "She doesn't hate you, Prongs," Sirius comforted as he too sat down on James' sofa, watching James intently.

          "No one can completely rid themselves of that feeling of hate," James shouted at Sirius his temper rising. 

          "I thought you didn't like her," Sirius asked, very well knowing that this was the wrong thing to say.

          "I don't!" James shouted, with an unsure tone in his voice that showed that he was lying.

          "Yes, you do," Sirius forcefully yelled.

          James, who had stood up to yell at Sirius, sank back down into his chair once again as he sighed out, "Fine,"

          "It wasn't that hard was it?" Sirius teasingly asked James who turned his hazel eyes on Sirius and glared.

          "What did you say earlier?" Sirius asked tentatively.

          "The hate was never mutual..." James trailed off softly, his heavy breaths sounding loud in the silent air.

          "You mean?" Sirius began to ask before James cut in.

          "Yes."

~*~

          Lily Evans raced up to the fourth floor quickly. She passed a sign that read:

 _Fourth Floor_

_Spell Damage_

_Unliftable Jinxes, Hexes, and Incorrectly Applied Charms, etc._

          "Evans! You're late! You have a patient in ward forty-seven. Auror trainee.." the witch trailed off as Lily passed her heading up toward ward forty-seven.   

          "Mister, I am so sorry I'm late, I got caught up on the second floor, someone needed me to check up on someone who had caught dragon pox, these trainees they are so unsure, couldn't even tell if it was a charm or the dragon pox, I suppose they will eventually learn," Lily rambled on as she pulled out a sheet of paper showing the status of the patient.

          Lily's green eyes rose to meet the man lying in a bed, looking quite embarrassed.

          _'I would recognize those deep hazel eyes and that messy black hair anywhere.' _ 

          "James!" Lily shrieked. 

          "Nice to see you too," James sarcastically replied. 

          '_It helps me so much to know that I frightened her when she saw me. I don't look that horrible do I? What _did_ Sirius do to me?_'

          "You broke your arm," Lily softly said as she walked over towards his bed to check his arm.

          "I thought so," James replied, trying to clear the pain from his voice. 

          Lily tenderly ran her fingers across his lower part of his arm that appeared to be broken. James winced in pain as Lily quickly removed her fingers from the tender area.

          '_Even though the pain is intense, I still tingle where she touches me. Maybe she could just rest her hand on my arm, and I'd forget about the pain..._'

          "How did it happen?" Lily questioned softly as she reached for her wand. 

          "Well, we were dodging hexes," James began as Lily turned around to face him, "and I...er...lost my footing, and fell on my arm." 

          Lily smiled softly as she placed her wand on James' arm and muttered a spell. In a matter of seconds, James' arm healed and appeared to be back to normal. 

          _'Still clumsy as ever..._'

          Once again, Lily ran her fingers across his arm, "Does it hurt anymore?" Lily asked softly.

          '_Every single time I feel these damn tingles. Why does she do this? What makes these tingles appear so suddenly?!_'

          "No," James replied, his gaze meeting Lily's. They were caught in each other's eyes. Intoxicated, they were leaning closer, and just as Lily's bright green eyes closed the doors to the room slammed open and Sirius stood in the door.

          James and Lily jumped apart, frightened by the interruption. Lily's face turned red as she muttered, "Hello Sirius," 

          '_I will have to remember to hurt Sirius later on..._' Lily thought in her mind. _'He had to interrupt us.' _

          James simply glared at Sirius who stood in the doorway, "I had to come check on Jamsie's little arm!"

          '_Sirius is getting yelled at later he just had to interrupt us...he did this purposely so I'd be alone with Lily and then he ruins it! How can he live with himself?_'

          Lily giggled at Sirius' face as she turned, "I need to go check on a patient next door, I'll be back in a moment."

          "So, did I miss the action?" Sirius teased as he raised his eyebrows at James with goofy expression on his face.

          "You ruined the possibility of any action happening," James whispered out as he tried to keep his voice low. 

          "I thought that maybe by putting that hex on you.." Sirius trailed off when James once again glared at him.

          "The hex didn't help anything! I looked like an idiot!" James sternly said, evidently trying to keep his voice down to a lower level.

          "What did you say?" Sirius laughed out.

          "I told her I tripped," James mumbled out as his face turned a deep shade of red.

          "You could've made it all heroic," Sirius laughed out once again.

          "She wouldn't have believed that!" James spat out.

          "True, who would believe James doing something heroic? Not me!" Sirius choked out.

          Lily hustled back into the room, in the middle of Sirius' laughing fit and stopped quickly. Glancing at Sirius laughing and James glaring at him from the bed.

          "What's so funny?" Lily asked.

          James' face showed fear as Sirius opened his mouth, but he just closed and said, "Sorry Evans, I have to go,"

          "James," Lily began as she reached out to touch James' arm, but quickly pulled her hand back. A tingling sensation was spreading throughout Lily's arm, to James'. They were standing in the middle of the ward, empty beds around them, staring into each other's eyes and subconsciously leaning closer. 

          '_Sirius has left there isn't anything to interrupt us!' _James happily thought in his mind.

          "Miss Evans! We have an emergency in ward forty!" a healer gasped as she threw open the door, not noticing how close Lily and James were standing, "an Auror has been hit with a charm that reduced his head two sizes too small!"

          Without taking her eyes off of James Lily replied, "I'll be right there." 

          _'I can't believe...the second time today! It seems as if it weren't meant to be...but I know it is...Why am I even thinking this?_'

          The woman shut the door and Lily softly told James, "Good luck." Then she turned and raced out of the room. Fleeing the feelings that swarmed the room like angry bees, stinging her and pushing her towards something she didn't want to feel. 

          "I need to hurt myself more often," James muttered into the empty ward as he apparated. 

~*~

          James glanced up at the ticking clock on the wall, he found himself wishing that he could throw it against the wall and break it. The sound was unnerving, making him cringe. Lily would be arriving any moment. 

          '_What will she think of me? What will she think of my cooking?' _James thought frightened. _'What will she think of my apartment? My clothes?'_

          A knocking sound filled the room. '_She's here...'_

"Hello Lily," James said softly, his voice quivering, as he opened the door to reveal a short woman with dark red hair and almond shaped bright green eyes. 

          '_She's beautiful.' _James thought. _'She's beautiful and she doesn't seem to know it...not many people seem to know it. I know it..._'

          "Hello James," Lily replied equally as softly. Neither of them moved, both remembering the incident in the doctor's office the day before. 

          "How is your arm feeling?" Lily suddenly asked, she was still standing in the doorway and she seemed to have forgotten the fact when she asked the question. 

          _'She has to bring that up. One of the most embarrassing things in my life. Sirius just had to hex me so that I'd break my arm...and I just had to be sent to St. Mungos. He just knew I'd end up with Lily didn't he.' _

          "It's feeling much better, thank you," James replied politely, it sounded foreign and formal to his ears and to Lily's. 

          _'James sounds so strange being polite. He's never been really rude to me...but he's never sounded this formal. The formality annoys me. I'd much rather feel that I am closer to him...Where did that come from?_'

          James seemed to realize that Lily was still standing in the doorway; he gave a slight jump as he stood back beckoning for Lily to enter the small room. 

          "Are you going to change?" Lily suddenly asked as she glanced over James' attire. He was wearing a crisp white shirt and black pants. James looked over his clothing, not understanding what was wrong with his clothes.

          _'Something is wrong with my clothes! I knew there would be something wrong with my clothes...because every time I see Lily Evans I embarrass myself!_'

          "What...I mean...why..." James began before Lily cut him off.

          "You might get them dirty when you cook, I prefer to cook the muggle way, takes longer but it is so much more fun!" Lily answered happily as she glanced around James' apartment. 

          There was a red sofa, and chair sitting in the corner by a fireplace. The mantel was filled with pictures and the room had a large window in the center, through which sunlight was lazily filtering in.  

          _'It seems like somewhere that James would live. It is comfortable and filled with things that have no reason...It is perfect for him...and I feel as if I wouldn't ever mind staying in a place like this.'_

          "I'll be right back," James announced as he bolted through one of the doors, she saw that it led to a darkened hallway, and James was soon out of sight. 

          Lily moved over to the fireplace to glance over the pictures. She smiled when she saw James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter in the Great Hall at graduation. The four boys were smiling and waving and she noticed that she could see Professor Dumbledore standing in the background talking with Professor Mcgonagal. 

          '_They were all so happy, so carefree. Sirius and James now have this look to them that still suggests that they haven't completely grown up, but they have aged... matured. They look completely different than they did in this picture even though they don't look different at all.' _

          She scanned over more pictures of James and his friends and family until she found one with James and a young boy that looked similar to him. The boy had the same narrow face, and messy black hair, he even had glasses, but his eyes were a light blue instead of James' hazel eyes. The two of them looked so happy together.

          '_He must be James' brother. He looks just like him...I didn't know James had a brother...although how could I expect myself to, I was never very good friends with James, and even though I've become closer to him we haven't discussed our families..._'

          "Who is that?" Lily asked James, who had just walked up behind her.

          "My brother," James replied very softly, his eyes darkened as he watched the picture and he lowered his head. 

          "I didn't know you had a brother," Lily replied without taking her eyes off the picture. 

          "I don't anymore," James choked out. There was a knot in the back of his throat threatening to cause tears to spill. He tried to hold them in for Lily's sake. He wanted to appear strong, and not weak in her eyes. 

          _'I can't cry..._' James worriedly thought in his head. _'I cannot appear weak. I cannot cry._'

          "You mean?" Lily gasped out turning around to see James looking at the ground helplessly trying to remain in one piece. 

          _'No wonder I never knew. I can't believe that someone so young and so innocent died so horribly, and caused his whole family pain beyond belief...It is so clear that James still hurts and bleeds over it...his eyes show everything.' _

          "Voldemort," James swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears inside of him, trying to not release the pain in the open. He didn't want anyone to see how much it hurt.

          "When?" Lily gasped out once again; she was now closer to James, watching him through bright emerald eyes, which held concern.

          "During seventh year," James whispered out, unable to remain control over his voice. 

          "I'm so sorry," Lily sincerely whispered back. James could feel her sweet breath on his neck as he tried to regain control of his feelings, and put the sorrow behind him. 

          _'No one should have the pain like this. No one in the world. Especially not James' little brother, who was so innocent, and had such a long life to live. He had everything ahead of him and then it was snatched away because fate was looking the other way.' _

          "I became an Auror to fight for him," James explained, "I felt I needed to get revenge on the one who ruined my brother's life, who ruined my family's life, and mine."

          "He looks just like you," Lily smiled as she glanced at the picture once again.

          "His name was Harry," James told Lily, as he glanced at the picture, a small smile playing on his face. 

          Lily smiled right back, until James' smile faded, and turned into a frown. The tears were threatening to flow and he quickly turned away from Lily. Lily reached over and placed her hand on his arm. 

          '_He does still bleed. I can feel it coursing through his veins. It scares me that I can feel things that he does..._'

          "I haven't cried since it happened," James confessed to Lily as he wiped his tears away from his shining hazel eyes. 

          "How?" Lily asked amazed, "That's unhealthy James. You need to let it all out."

          Lily reached out and hugged James; he melted into her arms and rested his head on her shoulder as he cried. His glasses dug into her neck, but neither seemed to notice or care that the position was less than comfortable. James' head was bent down low, creating a pain in his neck. To them, it was perfect. 

          '_I can feel his glasses digging into my neck...but it seems so small compared to what James must be feeling. I need to take some pain. I need to let him cry it out and give it to me...I need for him to keep holding me and for me to hold him...it makes me melt...and melting is by far the best feeling in the world.' _

_          'My neck is in pain, but somehow the pain doesn't hurt me. I can only feel Lily...and her arms around me and my arms around her...and her scent tickles my nose and I need to hold her tighter otherwise I might fall to the ground, my legs can't support me anymore._' 

          After almost a half hour of solid crying James' head shot up, "Lily, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done this to you."

          Lily smiled as she shook her head, "Don't worry James,"

          "We should probably start," Lily said, gesturing towards the clock. Lily and James made their way into the kitchen. 

~*~

          "That was amazing!" James shouted as Lily set the last knife on the table. 

          Lily turned to smile at James, "It wasn't that amazing, I only made simple recipes. Plus nothing is finished yet, we don't know it tastes."

          "I'm sure it's wonderful," James assured Lily as they walked back into the kitchen. 

          It was a mess, there was flour everywhere. The eggs were still laying on the counter, and packages and boxes of spices, and flavors were still opened and laying on the counter; some of their contents spilling out over the edges. 

          _'I am sure it will be wonderful if she made it.' _James thought to himself as he watched Lily from the corner of his eye. '_Everything she does is wonderful. The fact that she breathes is wonderful. And the fact that she made one of the biggest messes I have ever seen in my kitchen is wonderful. She is the most wonderful person I have ever met.'_

          "Now we have to clean up," Lily winked at James as she pulled a rag off the counter next to the sink and began to clean up the flour that had spread over the black marble counter in the middle of the room. 

          '_James doesn't care about making a mess.' _Lily laughed lightly as she rubbed the counter top clean. '_Of course most men don't. He is still so young at heart. He's so young but he's matured, and grown. He's changed. He isn't the little boy I knew at Hogwarts. Now he's older, wiser, and still as charming and silly as he was before._' 

          "The worst part," James muttered as he also grabbed a rag and began wiping off the counter-tops. When James reached the bag of flour he dropped his rag, and reached up to place the bag on the shelf right above Lily's head. 

          It happened in an instant. Lily spilled a cup of water that had been sitting quite near the edge of the counter, begging to fall. The cup clattered and rolled away. James lost his footing as he slipped in the water that was spreading rapidly across the kitchen floor. James dropped the bag of flour as he attempted to stop himself from falling. The flour flew through the air and landed in Lily's hair, covering her in white. She lost her balance and grabbed James to remain standing. Once again James slipped in the water and both of them landed on the floor.

          _'Great, for about the twentieth time this week I end up on the floor with Lily Evans.' _James thought to himself as he tried to remain calm with the gentle pressure of Lily's body pressing down on him. '_Is this some sort of a sign from God? Is there a reason that we keep ending up on each other? Or is this just some sick joke?_'

          When the last of the flour had settled James mumbled from somewhere underneath Lily sheepishly, "Sorry."

          '_This is the fifth time that James and I have landed on top of each other. Luckily this one wasn't in public...I don't think I could stand another one of those. I find my mind wandering and I forget where I am, I can only think of things that I don't even want to think about...and then when I realize where I am I've been laying there so long that it makes it obvious what I was thinking about. Then I begin to blush and it just enforces everyone's opinion that I was thinking that...because I really was! And I hate that I was!_'

          To James' surprise Lily didn't scream, she laughed. She laughed as she wiped the flour away from her eyes and saw James' surprised look, and she laughed hardest when she reached for the left over eggs and cracked them open in James' hair.    

          '_This is not the Lily Evans I remember.' _James thought as he felt the egg drip through his hair. '_Evans would never do this. She is still the same person, but different somehow. She's changed in a good way. In a way that makes me love her even more for it...and in that fact it's a bad way because I hate the fact that I love her._'

          James reached his hand to feel what damage she had done. His hand met with the slimy, sticky feeling of raw eggs. He glared at down at Lily who was still on the floor laughing.

          _'His face is so funny.' _Lily laughed out loud. _'He makes me laugh so hard that I can't help but feel that he looks adorable. I hate to think he's adorable. I don't want to think it but I do, and I enjoy thinking it. Is that even possible?' _

          "You think it's funny then do you?" James teasingly asked, trying to maintain a serious tone, but failing miserably. 

          _'Her laugh makes me weak.' _James realized as he automatically smiled back. _'I can't be angry when she is laughing. It is impossible, when she laughs, I laugh. When she cries, I cry. She controls me; I have no hold over my emotions or myself. Is that illegal?'_

          "Yes, I do," Lily replied, holding her sides because she was laughing so hard. 

          James just smiled and as he stepped forward to get his revenge he slipped and fell on the floor once again. 

          '_I think that it's illegal to not embarrass myself in front of Lily.' _James yelled within his mind. '_I fall, I stutter, and I cry. She must think that I'm an idiot...of course she probably already did. Why is she still here?_'

          "James! Are you okay?" Lily asked worriedly, as she knelt down to his level. 

          '_James has a habit of falling.' _Lily laughed. '_At least this time he broke the habit of brining me down with him. Not that I mind being underneath him...Who am I kidding? I yearn for the feel of him. How can I do this to myself? It was so much easier when I hated him!_'

          "I'm fine," James replied slowly, as he stared into her eyes. They were leaning closer, and closer. Their noses were touching. Lily closed her eyes and leaned in. 

          _'He is close...very close...' _Lily thought to herself. '_I can feel his breath, it tickles my ear, I just need to lean in a little closer...'_

_          'She's closer than I ever could imagine..._' James thought. _'She smells like vanilla, the smell intoxicates me...I just have to lean a little bit farther..._' 

          _Beep. Beep._

The timer went off. Lily jumped up anxious at the chance to get away from James. She pulled out the bread and the chicken and she set them on the counter. When she looked at James, she laughed. 

          "I think that we should probably shower," Lily suggested as she left the kitchen. The door hit James on his way out; as he rubbed his nose he pushed it open once again. 

          '_Here I go again. Making a fool of myself in front of Lily Evans. I did it enough to last someone a lifetime of women during Hogwarts...why does it have to continue now?_'

          "I get the shower first!" James shouted as he turned to go into the hallway leading to the rest of the apartment. 

          "I'm the guest! I should get it first!" Lily reasoned as she ran to catch up to James. Their hands were both on the door and once again they were both staring at each other. When their fingers had touched electricity had shot up their arms. 

          '_My hand tingles every single time he touches me.' _Lily thought as she felt the pleasant tingling sensation run up her arm. '_It spreads through my body quickly, and as quick as it comes it goes. Then I spend hours wishing it was still there.' _

_          'There she goes again. Controlling my feelings, my emotions. I don't know how she does it...I love it...and I hate it...I want to control myself again...but I don't._' 

          For the second time that night they were leaning closer. For the second time that night Lily shut her eyes. For the second time that night they were interrupted. 

          _Knock, knock. _

          '_I swear I will have to kill the person who keeps doing this!' _James shouted within his mind as he looked upwards towards the ceiling. 

          Without giving another thought to their appearances Lily and James opened the door. 

          "Hello James!" James' mother said as she pulled James into a hug. His mother was a short woman; she had short brown hair that fell into place nicely, and hazel eyes that matched James' perfectly. 

          "Good to see you son," James father sternly said. James' father on the other hand had black hair; it seemingly would be messy, as James' naturally was, but he had it flattened down that it looked unreal. His face was expressionless.

          '_James doesn't seem to be like his father. Aside from the hair...' _Lily wondered. _'He doesn't have an expression. James always shows how he feels, it is so evident in his eyes...It's odd that he doesn't show how he feels or his personality at all..._' 

          "You must be Lily," James' mother began as she grabbed Lily's hand, "I have heard so much about you!" 

          James flushed to a deep red as he tried to hide his face from his parents and Lily. 

          _'Of all the things to say...Tell the girl I talk about her a lot. Let's all tell her that I talk about her all the time...I think about her all the time...I want her all the time. Way to go Mum.'_

          "What have you two been doing?" His mother exclaimed once she noticed Lily and James' appearance. Lily and James looked down and realized that they were covered in flour, and in James' case eggs. 

          "We were cooking...and then...er...we were cleaning up," Lily replied, at a loss for words. 

          "We had a food fight," James simply replied as he turned and said, "I get the shower first," 

          "I called it!" Lily shouted as she raced after him out the door.

          After they were gone and the apartment was quiet except for the occasional shrieking coming from an area near the bathroom James' mother asked, "How long?"

          "Soon," James father replied, a smile threatening to appear on his expressionless face. 

~*~

**Author's Note: **I just felt that I should thank EVERYONE who sent me such nice encouragement in their reviews!

**Kellie: **I am so glad that you loved my first attempt of this story! I loved the idea so much too that I just couldn't stay away...I just had to make it better! I hope that this chapter is quick enough for you I lit my fingers on fire with all the typing! The chapter is the same length hope that made you happy!

**Sirius' lover: **I hope the 5th book didn't upset you too much...it made me cry...Thanks for the compliment! Hopefully you'll enjoy this just as much

**Dark Angel: **I'm glad you like the story! And you get to read more of Lily and James' thoughts now! Hopefully you'll enjoy them! And I'm writing just as fast as I can 4 all of you!

**Christy: **I'm so glad you liked it! I updated but I'm sorry you'll have to wait until next chapter to find out what happens at the dinner. You get the cooking in this chappie!

**Fluffymiffin: **This chapter is just as long! Hopefully it's just as good!

**Oobergoober: **This one is long too! And I'm glad that it made you happy, hopefully this does the same!

**Hermione101888: **Here's chapter two and I hope you like the story just as much!

**Princess: **Hopefully this is fast enough. It wasn't TOO long! And I'm glad that you liked it!

**Lilyclio: **I'm glad you liked the story...about making it shorter I just couldn't do it! I prefer to read longer chapters...and sometimes I leave notes telling people they should make their chapters longer...I can't be hypocritical like that!

**Amy: **I'm glad you liked it! And I'm so glad it made you laugh! That makes me feel really great! Thank you so much! Hopefully this will meet to your standards once again!

**Flea: **I'm so glad you loved it. About mixing my ideas...I just couldn't leave them there...it also made the chapter quicker to write ;-) I'm glad you like the length and the relationship between James and Sirius, hopefully it's close to the way the flashback was too-although I didn't make James that mean!

**Elegystar: **I'm glad u liked it! This one is long too so hopefully this update meets to your standards!

**Bell: **Thank you for supporting this story when it was A Portent Of Love. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Sorry it seemed too long...I just write more and more until I realize I have to stop! Hope this update is soon enough for you!

**Hefeump: **I wrote more! And I'm glad you loved my story!

**Shadowbird: **Here's a chapter! Hope you like it!!

**I o u a name: **I'm glad that the story made you laugh. I try to make it funny and its nice to know that someone found it amusing! The job interview is for a promotion-you'll find out about it in an upcoming chapter...although I can't remember which one. 

**Midnight-Shadow: **I am so glad that you found it funny!! Hopefully this chapter will make you laugh just has hard!


	3. It'll Happen Soon

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1**Summary:** Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate?

**Disclaimer: **If you stare at the computer too long you might begin to starting thinking that I'm J.K. Rowling. Sometimes that does that to you. *SNAP* There I snapped you out of it! I'm not J.K. Rowling. I own nothing!

**Author's Note: **Well here is the awaited third chapter of Excuse Me Miss Evans. I'd like to thank everyone for reading this! It means a lot to me!!! I love all of the reviews that I have been getting! Thank you! So please review again and you'll get chapter four out just as soon!!

**Midnight Goddess**

.....................................................................

**Excuse Me Miss Evans**

**Chapter Three: It'll Happen Soon**

**By: Midnight Goddess**

.....................................................................

                "This tastes wonderful," Mrs. Potter said, after she had swallowed a mouthful of the orange chicken Lily had helped to prepare for this dinner. 

          "Lily helped me make it," James replied. He turned to smile at Lily, who smiled back at James with equal warmth. 

          _'He has to smile at me like that.' _Lily thought when she returned his smile brightly. _'Of course, he probably isn't aware that whenever he does that, it makes me weak in my knees.'_

"It was nothing. It's just a simple recipe. We made it together," Lily softly said, as she felt the color rising in her cheeks. James, in turn, turned his head down towards his plate to hide the blush that was creeping onto his cheeks as well. 

          _'We. That simple word makes me turn bright red.'_ James thought. _'God, it's painful how much I want there to be a we...I have since fifth year. Now the possibility seems so close, but just barely so far away.'_

"You two did a wonderful job," Mrs. Potter said as she watched Lily and James with interest. 

          _'James rarely blushes at anything.'_ Mrs. Potter thought. _'It's highly unlike him to blush at anything embarrassing...the only reason to explain this is that he loves Lily. Which seems highly plausible the way he is acting around her...'_

"Thank you," Lily answered quietly; James nodded his head in agreement with Lily's statement. 

          "It is very delicious," James' father spoke. His voice seemed to have become less automated and more real, more alive with personality in the short period of time. 

          _'James' father seems to become more and more real with every word that is spoken.' _Lily noted in her head.

          "Lily, I must say you have had a positive influence on my son," Mrs. Potter said as she helped herself to more mashed potatoes and pumpkin juice, "last time we came for dinner here, James had to take us out to eat because the food was so bad!" 

          Lily giggled at the story as she looked over at James, who was trying to hide his reddened face with his hands as she replied, "Thank you Mrs. Potter."

          "Lily, call me Shannon," Shannon Potter told Lily. 

          "Okay, Shannon," Lily said as she smiled and helped herself to some more orange chicken. 

          "I'm sure that we'll be seeing a lot more of you," Shannon told Lily as she winked over at James.

          _'Thanks mum.' _James cursed in his head. _'First you tell Lily I talk about her all the time, now you say that I want to be with her all the time...okay so that's not what really was said but it was implied, and Lily will understand, she's smart...'_

"Like I said before, you two are quite a team," Shannon said, as her husband nodded in agreement and helped himself to more chicken and potatoes. 

          "Thank you," Lily and James replied in unison as they both tried to avoid each other's eyes. 

          "You must have been good friends in school," Shannon stated, rather than asking,  as she watched their faces for some sort of reaction. 

          "Well, actually," James began rambling, "See...we...er...well," 

          Lily laughed lightly as she answered for James, "We didn't get along very well during Hogwarts," 

          Shannon and Mr. Potter looked perplexed at this statement. _'They didn't get along? How could they have not gotten along for so many years and now after only a few years after graduation go together so perfectly?' _Shannon wondered. 

          "Well, those feelings seem to have been forgotten," Mr. Potter contributed to the conversation. 

          "Yes, they have Mr. Potter," Lily said as she glanced over at James, who was crimson and staring at his plate as he had been for most of the evening. 

          "Edward," Mr. Potter said quickly as he smiled for the first time that evening. Lily returned the smile, relieved to see that he was capable of smiling. 

          "How did these feelings change?" Edward asked Lily and James. The curiosity in his voice was evident and his eyes twinkled.

          "Well, I don't really know," James said as he looked at Lily for help. 

          "We happened to bump into each other in a café," Lily said as she laughed at the memory. 

          _'I am so glad that James spilt coffee all over me. If he hadn't, I wouldn't be here with him and his family. I wouldn't be feeling giddy and lightheaded all the time...'_

"I spilt coffee over her," James added in before his parents had a chance to respond. To his relief they laughed just as Lily had at the story of how they happened to meet again after their years apart. 

          "So, then you just decided to be friends?" Shannon asked, laughing even more at the idea of that even happening. 

          "Well, we didn't fight anymore," Lily replied. _'How did we become so close? We didn't decide to be friends. We were glad to see each other. All of a sudden, I was happy that I saw James Potter after all this time apart. Why did that happen?'_

"I wasn't aware that feelings changed that quickly," Shannon Potter announced with a gleam in her eye. James and Lily flushed with embarrassment of the accusation that she was suggesting. __

"I wasn't either," Edward Potter added as he looked at Lily and James, who were showing their embarrassment very clearly. 

          _'Mum and Dad are saying that I've had feelings for her since Hogwarts!' _James thought frantically in his head. _'They can't prove that! They can't prove that I have feelings for her now!'_

_          'Are James' parents saying that we've had feelings with each other since school? I never had feelings for James and he never had feelings for me. That's a crazy thought.'_

"I think we just matured and were able to put aside our differences," Lily said. James raised his head and nodded in agreement with Lily's statement. 

          "We didn't have any reason to fight over anything anymore," James added along to Lily's statement. 

          "Oh, that explains it then," Shannon said with a hint of sarcasm hidden deep within her voice. 

          Edward noticed it and looked over at her, "I don't buy it," he said simply and he turned back to his food. 

          Lily and James sat without another word as they thought about what James' father had just said. 

          _'Does Dad know that I liked Lily at Hogwarts? Did Sirius tell him?' _James wondered as he studied his dad. He glanced over at Lily and smiled briefly before turning away to hide the rose coloring that was appearing on his cheeks. 

          For the rest of the meal, not another conversation began at the table. Shannon and Edward made many attempts to get Lily and James talking again, but neither seemed willing to lift their head and meet each other's eyes. Only the occasional nodding of the head or a polite yes was spoken between the two. 

          "Like I said," Edward Potter whispered as he leaned over towards Shannon. They both had been watching Lily and James glance at each other and glance away just as quickly as they could, "It will happen soon."

~*~

          "Bella, I'm home!" Lily called out as she opened the door and let the cool air into the house for a few moments. The moonlight shone down on the empty hallway. 

          "Bella?!" Lily called out once again. A shiver went down her spine as she bolted to the back of their apartment, praying to god that Arabella was there. 

          _'Arabella better be back there! Where is she? Why isn't she coming? If anything happens to her, I don't know what I would do!'_

Lily finally reached Arabella's door. She grasped the handle and threw the door open. 

          A scream filled the air. 

          "Lily! Can't you wait a few bloody minutes?!" Arabella shrieked as she clutched her clothes to her body.

          _'Maybe I shouldn't be so rash when Arabella doesn't answer the door. I can't believe I just walked in on Arabella changing because she didn't come the second I called her!' _Lily thought. 

          Lily giggled, "Sorry Bella, you didn't respond when I called and I was afraid that something had happened to you. I mean with everything that happened last week..." 

          "It's okay," Arabella said as she finished dressing by pulling a sweatshirt over her head, "My mom used to be paranoid like that all the time. Especially if the door was left open one of her cats would go out. I swear that woman was obsessive over her cats, they probably made her feel a little more magical being a squib and everything..." 

          "I can't remember if I closed the door," Lily admitted after hearing that story. 

          "Lily! You know that Buddha bolts!" Arabella yelled at Lily as they raced out of Arabella's room into the hallway and rested their eyes on the open door.

          _'Not only did I just walk in on Arabella changing I've lost her cat. Way to go Lily Evans!' _

          "I'll go find her," Lily sighed as she ran out the door onto the darkened street. The street lamps lit the street with an eerie white glow that caused shivers to go down Lily's spine. She caught sight of a tail disappear around the corner and she tore off in that direction. 

          _'This reminds me of that night that the Death Eaters were out. It's dark and insanely quiet and eerie like it was that night.'_

Once Lily reached the corner, she turned and at the very end of the street and there was a small park. She began walking towards the park, but stopped suddenly. She had spotted Buddha and he was next to a man who was sitting on a bench. 

          _'Should I go over there? Buddha is there but so is a man? I have my wand but who knows who he is. He could be a Death Eater for all I know!' _

          Lily decided that she couldn't be afraid of silly things like that, and she gripped her wand tighter and delicately placed one foot in front of the other until she reached the bench. 

          "Excuse me sir, but that is my friend's cat. He tends to bolt outside if you leave the door open..." Lily said as she reached for Buddha. 

          "Lily?" a male voice asked as he looked up. The startling hazel eyes met Lily's green ones and her face broke into a smile. 

          "James!" Lily exclaimed as she grabbed Buddha and hugged his small body to hers. His black fur blended in with the darkness and his yellow eyes gleamed. 

          "You shouldn't be out this late. It's dangerous. You saw what happened last time," James hurriedly said as he stepped closer to Lily defensively. __

"I had to get Buddha," Lily whimpered under James' stern glare. _'He reminds me of Professor McGonagal with that stare of his. It is really unlike James to be this protective or serious. I wonder what inspired the change.'_

"I'm going to walk you home," James announced. He blinked at his boldness, but stayed next to Lily as they began to walk out of the park. __

_          'I'd actually enjoy that...he doesn't know. I enjoy his company. I enjoy talking to him when no one else is around. I would feel much safer with an auror walking me home in the middle of the night.' _

"I don't mind. I would be much more comfortable with you here," Lily admitted, the darkness hiding her blush. 

          "I haven't seen you in three days," Lily laughed out as she looked up at James with a smile playing on her lips. 

          "So you've been counting?" James asked jokingly as he beamed back at Lily.

          _'Why did I tell him that? Now he thinks that I've missed him...which I have, but I know that he hasn't missed me. What should I say?' _ 

          "Not exactly. Don't get your hopes up too high," Lily began, she continued quickly off of James' puzzled look in her direction, "It's just a long time to not bump into you somewhere." 

          James laughed as he realized that he often bumped into Lily Evans less than three days apart, "So, did you miss me?" 

          Lily smiled and looked down at her feet as she responded, "In your dreams!"

          "You know you missed me!" James teased as he punched her arm lightly. Lily smiled at him but just shook her head. 

          _'It's amazing how natural this is, to walk with Lily Evans, to talk to her, it's the easiest thing in the world and it makes me feel different than walking or talking with anyone else.'_

"Maybe I missed you a little bit," Lily teased right back at James as she added, "but I think that it's more plausible that I didn't."

          "Where is your apartment?" James asked Lily very suddenly. 

          Her eyes grew wide. They were almost near the end of the block. She turned around and walked back to the apartment that they had just passed. 

          "Do I captivate you so much that you can't remember where you live?" James joked with Lily.

          _'He doesn't even know how true that statement is...' _

          "The apartments all look the same," Lily said instead as she knocked on the door for Arabella to open the door.

          "Do you not have a key?" James asked with confusion. 

          "I forgot it," Lily replied. She turned her head to tell James something but she completely forgot it when she turned to face him. She was leaning forward and she knew that somehow this time they wouldn't be interrupted. 

          _'Sirius isn't here to ruin it. There is no doorbell, no timer, no nurse.' _Lily thought as her eyes fluttered closed and the door shot open. Lily and James shot apart. 

          "Buddha!" Arabella shrieked as she took that cat out of Lily's arms and rubbed his fur. She tenderly put him down on the floor and she let him race off into a dark shadow in the apartment. 

          "Hello Arabella," James said as he began to turn to leave. 

          "Potter," Arabella began, "What are you doing here?" 

          "I was down at the park and Buddha ran to me and Lily was running after Buddha..." James trailed off as if the rest of the story could explain itself. Arabella finally stepped aside for Lily and James to enter into the apartment and bustled off doing something else. 

          "So," Lily said, a little embarrassed by what had almost happened before Arabella had opened the door. 

          _'I am going to need to add Arabella on my long list of distractions that I need to get rid of!'_ Lily thought in her mind. Then she blushed as soon as she realized just what she was thinking. 

          "Lily says she missed me," James laughed out as soon as Arabella re-entered the room. 

          Arabella smiled at Lily and replied, "She probably did."

          "I never said that!" Lily shrieked, breaking Arabella and James' conversation. 

          "It was implied," James said as he glanced at the clock, "I need to go though it's late and Sirius is going to send out a search party if I don't get back soon." 

          "Goodnight," Arabella said simply as she left the kitchen once again. 

          "Thank you for finding Buddha for me," Lily whispered as she startled herself even and hugged James. 

          _'This feels so right.' _Lily thought to herself. _'Why do his arms have to fit so perfectly around me and make me melt right here.' _

James smiled as he breathed in the top of her hair. _'I cannot believe how amazing it is to hold her. She fits perfectly in me. This is perfection.'_

"Goodnight," Lily whispered as she pulled back. She reached up and kissed James' check. He turned away and she closed the door with a sigh. 

          James brought his hand up to his cheek. _'She kissed me. Sure it was a thank-you-for-helping-me-find-my-friend's-cat kiss but that leaves hope for an I'm-head-over-heels-in-love-with-you kiss, doesn't it? _He sighed, as he turned away from her apartment and apparated to his with a pop. 

~*~

          "This is a nice restaurant, Bella," Lily said as she glanced around the small Italian restaurant. There were very few tables and the walls were decorated with paintings that waved and tried to attract the attention of everyone eating unsuccessfully. 

          "I need to go use the restroom," Bella whispered as she stood up from her chair and began to walk towards the back of restaurant. 

          She walked towards the back and was walking past the door that read _Wizards _and was reaching for the door that read _Witches, _when the door opened and she collided with it, causing her to slip on the wet floor and fall backwards. 

          "Bella?" a voice asked as a man with long black hair bent down to help her up. 

          _'This is perfect. Wherever Sirius is, James won't be far behind. This way I can finally get Lily out of her he loves me? He loves me not? Mode and be normal for once.'_

"Sirius, are you here with James?" Arabella asked quickly. 

          _'Lily must be with her. It's so obvious that they like each other and I know Arabella has noticed it...' _Sirius thought. 

          Sirius laughed as he leaned up against the wall and smoothly asked, "Does someone have a crush on Jamsie?" 

          Arabella rolled her eyes, and she smirked, "Not me, Lily."

          _'She does know that Lily and James like each other. Who doesn't, any random person who walked past them when they are talking to each other, or on top of each other because they've fallen would see it!' _

          Sirius laughed and replied, "James is here too."

          "Should we send them back here?" Arabella questioned as if she were afraid that it was too evil of a plan to use on their friends. 

          "To get their snogging party over with already?" Sirius asked. 

          "Yes," Arabella sighed. 

          "Good plan."

          Lily smiled as she watched Arabella make her way back to the table. Arabella sat down and immediately said, "Lily, you need to see the bathroom!" 

          "Why?" Lily asked suspiciously. 

          "They have this amazing portrait of a lake and I want to know if it is the one at Hogwarts," Arabella quickly said. 

          _'What was that? I want to know if it is the lake at Hogwarts? Shouldn't I be able to tell?'_

"Can't you tell?" Lily asked. 

          "I need a second opinion," Arabella assured Lily. Lily gave Arabella another questioning glance as she got up from the table and moved towards the bathroom. Arabella sighed with relief as she saw James making his way towards the back also.  She caught Sirius' eye and he winked at her as they both turned to watch James and Lily make their way back to meet each other. 

          "James!" Lily exclaimed as she came up behind a tall man with messy black hair. 

          _'I have to see him after last night...' _

          James turned around and looked at Lily with his hazel eyes glittering in the dim lighting of the restaurant. 

          _'Maybe I will appear somewhat normal this time!' _James hoped 

          "They planned this didn't they?" James suddenly asked. He mentally slapped himself afterwards. _'Way to impress the girl, you finally get her alone without much of a chance of interruption then you act as if you don't even want to be there!'_

"Most likely," Lily sighed out. _'I shouldn't' get my hopes up. James doesn't like me like that. He's just a friend...' _

          Lily and James just both stood there without saying anything in the cramped hallway that led to the bathrooms. _She probably thinks that I don't like her now; that I want to get rid of her, which I don't I want the exact opposite. She can't possibly know what that simple kiss on the cheek did to me.'_

Lily and James stood there watching each other; what no one had realized was that it was the same narrow hallway that connected with the kitchen. So Lily and James stood in the hallway staring at each other very close to the kitchen doors, which were very concealed in the wall. 

          It seemed as if Lily and James were prone to trouble. As they stood there, the trouble sat brewing and waiting to happen. 

          Then it did.

          A waiter opened up the kitchen doors to bring out Lily and Arabella's food. The door swung outwards and hit Lily. She lost her balance and fell backwards onto James. He tried to catch her but was unable because he lost his footing also. They ended up on the floor together. 

          _'As hard as I try to avoid these moments I find myself in them more and more often.' _Lily thought to herself as she began to get up from the floor. 

          James was rubbing his head from the fall and thinking. _'I try to be the knight in shining armor and catch her but I fall too. There has to be a law against this that makes falling this many times in front of one single girl illegal.'_

James winced as he saw what was going to happen. Lily was beginning to stand up just as the waiter was about to come out with the tray. 

          _'She's going to hit the waiter with the tray!' _James screamed in his mind. 

          "Lily!" James called out but it was too late. Lily collided with the waiter's tray spilling the food all over Lily and James and the floor. The floor as well as Lily and James were now covered in pasta and a marinara sauce.  

          Lily covered her head with her hands. _'It was embarrassing enough falling on top of James again. Now I spilled food over us.'_

James smiled at the sight of him and Lily on the floor covered in food, with a waiter looking flabbergasted at the sight. The waiter took a step forward, as if to help Lily off of the floor, but he slipped over a piece of pasta and went flying back through the door. 

          Lily covered her eyes once again. _'Now falling, and spilling food wasn't nearly as embarrassing as causing our waiter to fall.'_

James tried hard not to laugh at the sight, but as the door swung back into the kitchen again, he had to wince. Another waiter was coming out with more food on a tray. The door swung backwards to hit him in his nose and caused the hot soup to splatter all over him as he landed on the floor.

          _'Wherever Lily and I are, disaster is sure to follow, it is a well known fact...' _

          The sound of crashing trays and bodies led many people to look to the back where the narrow hallway was. Then, as a wave upon the sand, a roar of laughter began. The sight was hilarious. There were two waiters a man and a woman on the floor covered in pasta and soup. 

          It wasn't the end. Another waiter came out with a tray with a birthday cake with a candle on the top, which happened to be lit. He slipped on the pasta and fell. The cake fell onto James' back and his robes were lit on fire. 

          Lily screamed, as did many of the people who were watching the drama unfold. James' robes quickly caught on fire and another waiter raced out of the kitchen with a bucket of water. He dumped it on James who was now soaking wet with a burnt hole in his robes. 

          _'This is by far the worst thing that James and I have gotten ourselves into. Never before have we caused three other people to fall, covered us as well as the other people in food, or lit James on fire. This is bad...' _Lily thought as she covered her head in her hands. 

          Lily helped James up and they made their way out of the restaurant silently and quickly because everyone was too busy laughing over the scene with their dinner companions to pay attention to what James and Lily were doing. 

          Sirius and Arabella met them outside laughing so hard that they were clutching their sides. 

          "That was...so...funny!" Arabella managed to choke out. 

          "I didn't think it was funny!" Lily shouted out who was still covered with food. 

          _'How can they think it was funny that we just made complete idiots out of ourselves? How can they think it's funny that James was lit on fire?_

          "Trust me, it was funny!" Sirius laughed out. James just glared at everyone. Before long they were all laughing. 

          "I need to shower," Lily finally said as she picked at her robes, which were covered in sauces and soup. 

          "Lily, you look so beautiful with your face covered in..." Arabella began but she couldn't finish. Lily glared at Arabella and Sirius; smiled at James and then disapparated form the restaurant. 

_~*~_

Lily closed the compartment door and sighed as she took the seat next to the window. She hadn't been on a train since she came home from school, but yet here she was going on a train to visit her parents. 

          She would have just apparated, had there been a safe place in the world that was inhabited by muggles, but there wasn't an apparating point in the city, so, Lily decided on taking the train. Despite Petunia, Lily was very excited to be going home to visit her parents. 

          The door to the compartment opened to reveal a very flustered young man whose hair stuck up at odd angels. He was hidden behind his luggage but Lily smiled with recognition. 

          _'Sometimes I need to wonder if he is stalking me. I see him everywhere. I know it's just coincidence but it seems odd that it only started recently...' _Lily wondered as she smiled at the man who just entered the compartment holding many bags of luggage unsteadily. 

          "Excuse me miss..." the young man began as he tried desperately to maintain grip on his luggage. However, he failed and all the luggage came falling down covering him. 

          _'I don't even remember him being this clumsy. I wonder if he was always this clumsy and I just never noticed. I can't say I noticed many things about him. Of course I noticed the things that I didn't want to notice. Like his stupid habits that annoyed me, maybe if I had looked beyond those...' _

          Lily giggled as she got up to help the man to his feet, "Hello James."

          _'I knew there had to be a reason that I began dropping things.' _James whined to himself. _'Wherever Lily is, I make myself into a joke, it's been that way as far back as I can remember.'_

          James blinked as he said, "Lily, why are you here?"

          Lily rolled her eyes, "I can't be on the train can I?"

          _'Here I go again. Now she thinks that I don't want to be with her. I want to be with her more than anything in the world. I don't at the same time because I'm not myself around her... I'm clumsy and shy.' _

          "That's not what I meant..." James began; he was becoming more flustered with each second. 

          _'He becomes flustered around me so often. I wonder if he doesn't enjoy to being around me; if he doesn't enjoy my company. He changes his personality, one minute he's the confident, and funny the James I remember. Then again, he's clumsy and shy; a different side of him that I wasn't aware of.' _

          "I'm going to visit my parents in South Surrey, unfortunately they haven't set up an apparating post there, due to the lack of wizards that inhabit the area," Lily explained as she sunk back down into her seat. 

          _'We're going to the same place! That leaves more room for me to bump into each other and make a fool of myself. I do that way too often...maybe I should just stay locked up while I'm here.' _ James rubbed his head with the misery that was setting in at that thought.

          "I know, I'm going to visit my sister in south Surrey," James told Lily as he too sunk into his seat and began to watch the trees flying by outside the window. 

          "I didn't know you had a sister," Lily said. 

          _'There is so much that I don't know about him, so much more to learn, it's amazing how you can know someone for so many years and not know anything about them.' _Lily thought, amazed. 

          "She graduated three years before we arrived at Hogwarts," James told Lily with a small smile as he turned once again towards the window. 

          "She just had a baby," James said with a large grin on his face after a few moments of silence. 

          _'James must care for his sister a lot. He obviously cares so much about her child. It's evident with the glow that appears on his face when he mentioned the baby. The baby is lucky to have an uncle that loves it as much as James does.' _

          Lily turned to face James and said, "So, you're an uncle now." 

          James laughed as he said, "Yes, I'm Uncle James. I already was an uncle, she has a three year old boy."

          _'James would be a wonderful father...Where did that come from?!' _Lily thought frantically. 

          Lily's smile faltered as she said, "I have a sister, but she's a muggle like the rest of my family. She hates the fact that I'm a witch, and I'm dreading having to see her."

          _'It hurts her that her sister feels that way. The pain. It must be horrible knowing that someone so close to you thinks of you so badly.' _

          "That must be horrible," James whispered as he searched Lily's eyes for any indication of pain or frustration at the fact of having a sister who hated her. 

          "It is," Lily answered truthfully as she bent her head down to try and mask the pain. James reached out an in an instant she was in his arms once again. 

          _'Here we are again. Now I'm not going to be able to think straight for another day...but I just couldn't watch her when she hurt that much. I needed to do something.'_

When James pulled back, Lily appeared to feel better. She smiled sweetly at him as she spoke, "Thank you."

          _'He has the ability to make me feel better with a simple hug. With a smile, I'm giddy for another week...'_

          James just nodded his head and sat down in his seat across from Lily. _'I wonder if anything happens to her when I hug her. I wonder if she feels the same way that I do...'_

"Did you miss me?" James asked jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. Of course the mention of that evening caused Lily to turn scarlet. _'Why does he have to bring that up? He must think I'm an idiot for acting the way I did. I mean I kissed him...okay it was only on the cheek...but...'_

          "I saw you last night," Lily replied simply with a smirk. James rolled his eyes as he tried to contain his laughter that was building up inside him from the memories of that evening. __

_          'Bring up one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. It wasn't just in front of Lily it was in front of Sirius and Arabella...I am never going to forget about it.' _James sighed. __

"That had to be the most embarrassing moment of my life," James laughed out as he brought his hand up to mess up his hair, but he scratched his head when he realized that Lily was watching him. 

          _'I really need to get rid of that old habit. It's embarrassing to still have it.' _

          "But Jamsie," Lily began, "You looked so cute," 

          _'Did I just say he was cute? What is wrong with me? Why do I always think these things? Why can't I just stop!?'_

"When I was covered in pasta, soup, fire, or water on the floor?" James joked back. A hint of pink was now appearing on his face. 

          "All of them," Lily giggled out, remembering James' face when he caught on fire.

          "Especially when you caught on fire!" Lily exclaimed with a wink.

          Then without warning, the lights on the train began to flicker and everything went black. __

_          'What just happened?' _Lily screamed in her mind. _'What happened to the lights? There can't be Dementors on the train, it's a muggle train. Could there be a power outage?'_

"Lily, what happened?" James asked as he got up from his seat to try and find Lily. Unfortunately, he was moving towards the door to the compartment thinking it was towards the window. 

          _'I can't see anything. What happens if I trip over her and fall again? I've fallen on her or because of her too many times to count in the past few weeks.' _James thought as he rolled his eyes at the memories. 

          "I think the power must have gone out somehow," Lily replied as she tried to see where James was standing. A large bang on the other side of the compartment answered that for her.

          _'There he goes again...being clumsy. Although I can't really blame him this time, it is very dark and I'm sure that he can't see where he is going.' _

          "James, what did you just do?" Lily asked, the concern filtered in and out of her voice as she tried not to laugh at the idea of what James could have done. 

          "I just slammed into the wall," James replied quietly. The dark masked his embarrassment and he preferred it that way. 

          _'Thank god that it is dark in here and she couldn't see me slam into the door, or me blush at the mention of my name.'_

"I'm behind you," Lily told James as she walked up to tap him on the shoulder. James turned around at that exact moment. He almost pushed Lily backwards, but she reached out and held onto his shoulders to keep her balance. That was when they noticed that they were in very close proximity and in a darkened compartment. 

          _'Even in the dark I can make out every single feature of her face. Somehow I haven't managed to make a big fool of myself this time.'_

Lily smiled as she whispered, "We didn't fall this time."

          James laughed as he slowly leaned his head forward.

           _'This is perfect!' _Lily screamed in her head. _'We don't have any of our interruptions here. No friends, timers, or parents...'_

Then the door flew open once again and Lily and James toppled onto the floor. A man stuck his head into the compartment with a flashlight. 

          _'Of course someone interrupted us. Someone always does.' _James complained within his mind. 

          "The power went down, here's a flashlight," the man said before he left the compartment. Lily and James were still tangled on the floor. _'There is always an interruption. Always!!' _Lily thought in her mind. __

"What is a flashlight?" James asked suddenly as he picked up the flashlight off of the floor. 

          "It's a muggle light," Lily answered while she hid her eyes from the bright light that James had just flashed in her eyes. 

          "Turn it off!" Lily shouted, still trying to shade her eyes from the beam of light that was shining in her eyes. James complied and turned the flashlight off. They were once again in the darkened compartment alone. 

          They were standing up now and once again they were leaning forward. _'It has to happen this time. There can't be any other distractions on this train. Even if there are I'm going to forget about them...'_

Lily took a step forward towards James and closed her eyes with anticipation. Then her foot landed on the flashlight. It rolled backwards and she fell backwards bringing James with her. 

          "How many times do you think we've fallen?" Lily asked with a slight laugh. James didn't answer he was leaning closer to Lily. _'Like I said no distractions...I'm going to forget about the distractions...'_

Then the lights flickered back on blinding Lily with their sudden brightness. They quickly broke apart. 

          _'I was trying to forget about the distractions! Why do we always get interrupted or distracted by something?' _James screamed in his mind. 

          The train pulled to a stop as Lily whispered, "I guess we are here."

          James nodded his head as they grabbed their luggage and left the compartment. 

~*~

          "Lily!" Mrs. Evans yelled as she bustled over towards her daughter, her husband in tow. Mrs. Evans was a short, slim woman. Her hair was a light, sandy blonde color and her eyes were a light blue. She smiled warmly at Lily with happiness that twinkled in her eyes. Lily's father was tall; and his hair had grayed giving him a friendly feeling. His eyes matched Lily's perfectly. It was clear that she had inherited his eyes.  

  


          _'It's amazing how Lily looks like the perfect combination of her parents. She has her father's eyes and her mother's smile. By looking at her, you can tell that she is their child.'_

          "Mum!" Lily shouted as she dropped her suitcase and hugged her mother. Her father had reached Lily by now and engulfed her in a hug. Lily's mother had time now to look over at James. She gave him a small smile.

          _'I wonder who that man is.' _Mrs. Evans wondered as she glanced James over. _'I wonder how Lily knows him. If she were dating someone, I would have assumed she would have told us. I assumed she would have told us that she was bringing someone home with her.'_

          "Lily dear, who is your _friend_?" Mrs. Evans asked, as she looked James over once again. James subconsciously tried to flatten his hair under the gaze of both of Lily's parents. He straightened his glasses and looked down at his feet.  

          _'Why did mum have to say it like that? She said friend so sarcastically. As if she can tell that he is my friend, but that I don't want him to be my friend...how can she do that? Or am I just imagining this whole thing?' _Lily thought.

          Lily blushed at the mention of James, but she quickly hid it and said, "This is James, he went to Hogwarts with me." 

          _'I never even thought about meeting Lily's parents.'_ James thought. _'I never even took into consideration what they would think of me. Now I want to know. I need to know. I'm frightened that they won't approve of me. Even though I'm not dating their daughter, they can still form an opinion...'_

          "So you are a _wizard_ then!" Mr. Evans exclaimed with excitement. Lily smiled. Her parents loved witches and wizards. They were entranced by magic. 

          _'My parents would love James. Despite the fact that he's a wizard and they seem to love anyone with magical abilities. He has a personality that they would love. It's funny how I can just sense that he would fit into our family perfectly.' _

"Yes, sir," James replied politely as he set his luggage down to prevent himself from dropping them again. 

          _'I just hope that dad and mum don't interrogate him too much. Although, it's better than then asking about us...nothing has happened...why am I so embarrassed?'_

          "Have you come with Lily?" Mrs. Evans asked curiously as she looked from Lily to James expectantly. 

          _'Now they think that I've come with their daughter. Do they think that we are dating? I hope not...fathers can be very protective of their daughters. I don't want him to think that I like Lily in that way...I don't want him to be watching my every move...' _

          If Lily and James were not already scarlet, they were now. James regained his composure quicker than Lily and said, "No, Mrs. Evans, I'm visiting my sister. She lives in South Surrey also."

          _'Thank god that James isn't affected by little things like that as much as I am. Of course it could be the fact that he doesn't have any feelings for me. Little things like the mentioning of even the possibility that we are dating doesn't make his heart race like mine does...does it?'_

          "Is your sister a witch?" Mr. Evans asked, a smile appearing on her face. 

          "Yes," James answered. He looked over at Lily, puzzled by all their questions. Lily shrugged her shoulders and James shot her a glare. 

          _'Of course I'd expect Lily to help me out of this situation. Her parents are interrogating me, and she isn't doing anything! Of course she probably finds it amusing to watch me squirm with every question. This is way too complicated. Lily's my friend. Why are they trying to find out everything about me?!'_

          "James, would you care to join us for dinner tomorrow evening?" Mrs. Evans asked abruptly. Lily blinked and tried to hide the lingering blush on her cheeks. 

          _'Did my mom just ask James to come to our house tomorrow? She did not just do that. I can't control myself around him! This will be horrible! I don't want my parents to tell James all the embarrassing stories of my childhood before anything happens! They are going to ruin the possibility of anything happening. By the end of the evening he is going to be laughing at me!' _

          "I would love to," James replied, trying to keep his eyes away from Lily's. 

          _'Why did I just say that? I make a fool of myself wherever Lily is concerned. If they mention her name or refer to us as a couple indirectly, I'll drop something, or spill something, or fall. They are going to think I am a complete idiot!'_

          "Lily, we need to get going. Petunia has brought her fiancee to meet you tonight," Mrs. Evans announced as they pulled Lily along with them. They hadn't realized that James had set his luggage down by where Lily was standing, so when her mother grabbed Lily out to turn around, Lily tripped over the luggage and fell onto James, who was standing on the other side of the luggage. They both quickly untangled themselves from each other and the luggage and stood up. 

          _'I'm already making a fool of myself in front of her parents! I can't even wait until tomorrow evening it has to be now."_

Mr. and Mrs. Evans laughed lightly at the sight of Lily and James on the floor of the train station. James helped Lily up and they dropped each other's hands very quickly. Lily's mother gave her father an unreadable look and they turned around on their way. 

          "Goodbye, James it was nice to meet you," Mrs. Evans said as she smiled warmly at James and began to walk away. 

          Lily's father shook James' hand and said, "We'll see you tomorrow, James," 

          Lily smiled warmly at James and with a wave, they were walking out of the station. Lily chatting happily to her parents, the wind ruffling her hair. 

~*~

**Author's Note: **I want to thank my AMAZING betas. Brenda, Natalie, Manda, and Victoria. They are awesome!!!!

I also want to thank all of my reviewers!! And I also want to ask you to please review again! Reviews keep me typing faster!!

**Super fox: **I am so glad that you like my plot-line! I'm rather fond of it too. This has to be my favorite fic that I am working on right now. I'm glad that you think it's been funny and I hope this chapter is just as amusing! You can write like me! Just try!!

**I o u a name: **I am so glad that you thought that my chapter was funnier! Hopefully this one keeps the trend going up! There are more interruptions as you saw!

**Elegystar: **:) Thank you! I hope this one is just as fantastic!

**Sajal: **I'm defiantly going to keep going! I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

**Midnight-shadow: **I'm glad that it was funny again! I hope that you think this one is funny too and keep the trend going!! I'm glad that the title causes you to laugh I say I resent that a lot too...that's where it came from!

**Hermione101888: **Thank you! The next chapter will be to you as soon as I can write it!!

**AcidAngelTears: **Hopefully this keeps you intrigued! Hopefully this update was soon enough!!!

**LENAK: **I am so glad that you enjoy my fic! I hope that you continue to enjoy it and review!! I need to know if it continues to meet with your liking!

**Dancincheerchic: **I hope that you continue to love it! I hope that this chapter was posted soon enough!

 **Oobergoober: **I'm glad that the last chapter made you happy and I hope this one does too! Sorry that it took a long time. I'm working on many fics right now and I have to try and keep up with all of them! I'm going as fast as I can with my busy life! I feel bad for that guy who can't remain standing! And for you! James just can't keep standing because of Lily...lol...maybe it's the same for your friend ;-)

**LadyLily316: **I am so thrilled that you love my story! I don't know what you thought that Mr. and Mrs. Potter were talking about but you don't get to find out in this chapter...sorry! Err actually you have to wait until around chapter 14...if it isn't evident already!! That's the next appearance of James' parents!

**Smile 28: **I am so glad that you like my story! I've always wondered why they picked the name Harry and there you go! It was a tribute to his little bro!!! Hopefully the characters stay perfect! Hope u enjoyed!

**Kanariya: **I'm so glad you like my story! I hope that this chapter makes you just as happy as the first 2 did! THANK YOU


	4. Watch Where You're Going

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1**Summary: **Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate? 

**Disclaimer: **Silly rabbits, I don't own Anything you recognize!

**Author's Note: **Hey everyone! Here is chapter 4 of Excuse Me Miss Evans! I know you have all been dying to read it. You'll just have to read down if you think that they are going to get any action...maybe they will...but then again maybe they won't. I'd like to thank EVERYONE that reviewed and please review again. I want to know what everyone thinks of Joey! I love him! And it makes me update quickly as I have been doing!!

**Midnight Goddess**

.....................................................................

**Excuse Me Miss Evans**

**Chapter Four: Watch Where You're Going**

**By: Midnight Goddess**

.....................................................................

          James looked up at the beautiful white house as he stood at the door contemplating on how he should enter the household. He sighed and remembered hearing somewhere that muggles had some sort of a bell that they rang. He began looking around above him for a bell. 

          _'Where could the bell be? It's amazing how muggles live without magic. It seems as if they have used magic to keep this bell to be hidden from me. That must be why I can't find it. How do they do it?' _James keep turning around and inspecting every aspect of the doorframe and handle in search of a bell. 

          Then the door opened and James toppled inside. He heard a light giggle as he kept his eyes clamped shut in fear of opening them and finding Lily standing above him.

          _'I can never do anything right can I?' _James screamed inside his head. Finally he braved opening his eyes and he looked up into two identical pairs of emerald green. 

          "James, I'm glad that you made it," Mr. Evans said with a small smile as he bit back the urge to laugh at the sight of their guest on the floor. 

          "We were just coming out to get some flowers for the table," Lily explained, as she held down her hand and helped James to his feet. 

          "I couldn't find the bell," James admitted sheepishly as he looked down at his feet. Lily smiled as she pointed to a small button next to the door. 

          "James, you've arrived!" Mrs. Evans said happily as she entered the room with an apron tied around her waist, "I didn't hear the bell!"

          At this comment James turned pink and focused his attention on a picture on the wall of Lily, a girl who must be her sister, and her parents. The conversation was luckily dropped there. 

          "Lily, why don't you take James with you to get flowers for the table," Mr. Evans suggested as he headed towards the kitchen with Lily's mother. James nodded and followed Lily out of the opened door. 

          "How are you?" Lily asked James as they walked across the vast stretching of grass that was the front lawn over to a spot where a shady tree covered a flower bed filled with brightly colored flowers that had just bloomed. 

          "I'm fine," James responded with a confused look written on his face. Lily stepped forward and inspected the cut that was appearing on his forehead. 

          "You cut yourself when you fell," Lily whispered as she touched it with her wand and it disappeared. 

          "Thank you," James responded, tearing his eyes away from Lily's and looking at the flowers underneath the large tree that they were standing next to. 

          "What flowers do you like?" Lily asked as she knelt down in the soft dirt next to the flowers. James' eyes traveled across the numerous flowers that occupied the bed. 

          "The white roses are for my mother; her name is Rose. The red Petunias are for my sister; her name is Petunia. The Lilies are for me," Lily explained as she pointed to all of the flowers with her explanation. 

          "I like the Lilies," James said as he reached for a few white Lilies. They gathered a few of the lilies and then headed inside without another word. Lily placed the flowers in a vase and set them on a table. 

          "You picked the Lilies!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed with a sideways glance at James, "I've always loved Lilies."

          Lily smiled at her mother as she asked, "Do you need any help in the kitchen?" 

          "That would be wonderful; I need to go change," Mrs. Evans announced as she took off her apron and hung it on the wall next to the refrigerator. 

          "Just bring out the food and set it on the table," she instructed as she began to walk towards the stairs to her room. 

          James smelt the kitchen and sighed. _'This smells wonderful. I am sure that Lily is just as good of a cook as her mother is. She must have inherited that talent from her mother.' _

Lily picked up the salad and vegetables as she began to walk towards the dinning room, where they would be eating. James picked up the ham and turned around in order to follow Lily out of the room. He caught Lily off guard and she ran into him. The food dropped all around them in the kitchen. 

          "James!" Lily shouted as she looked at the food that covered the kitchen floor, "watch where you're going!" 

          "I'm sorry!" James exclaimed as he glanced at the food on the floor with wide eyes. _'I cannot believe I have done this again. At least I haven't fell in it yet, like last time.' _

Lily took a step forward; her intentions were unknown, but James shrunk back. Suddenly, he was very afraid of Lily's actions. _'Please don't hurt me!' _James screamed in his head. 

          Lily, unfortunately, slipped on the salad that had been covered with a nice dressing and fell backwards onto the floor. _'It was inevitable really. James and I always spill things, and fall. What would the world come to if we didn't?'_

James began to laugh at the sight of Lily covered with salad on the floor. Lily tried to glare at James but a smile was beginning to form on her face. She picked up a handful of the salad off of the floor and threw it at James, hitting him on his face. 

          "I was clean up until now," James replied with a grin as he wiped the dressing off of his glasses. 

          "It wasn't fair for you to stay clean and for me to be covered in food!" Lily exclaimed with an apparent twinkle in her eye. 

          "I was planning on keeping it that way," James said seriously, although he faltered at the last moment and his face broke into a smile. 

          At this, Lily threw more salad onto him. It slipped down to the front of his shirt and he glanced at Lily as he said, "I don't have any more clothes," 

          "And you call yourself a wizard, Potter," Lily sighed out as she twirled her wand in her fingers. At that very moment Mrs. Evans raced into the room. 

          "What happened? Are you okay?" She yelled as she looked at Lily covered with food on the floor. 

          "We had an accident," Lily managed to get out before she began laughing. James and her mother looked at her before James began laughing also. 

          Mrs. Evans looked back and forth between James and Lily before she spoke, "Why don't you two go up and change, and I'll try and fix up more food."

          Lily and James raced up the stairs to change quickly. Mrs. Evans could hear the slamming of doors up there and she smiled as she began to pull out more food quickly and prepare it. 

~*~

          "Dinner's ready!" Mrs. Evans called out as she walked into the living room, where her husband, James, and Lily were talking. James and Lily had their wands out and they quickly dropped the candle that they had been levitating and walked into the kitchen. Petunia stalked in from a different room and they all seated themselves around the table. 

          "Petunia, have you met James?" Mrs. Evans asked her daughter, who was sitting to the right of her. 

          Petunia flipped her blonde hair out of her eyes and glared at her mother before turning her glare on Lily and James. 

          "I have not," Petunia announced, "I didn't plan on it either," she added underneath her breath. 

          "What was that dear?" Mr. Evans asked who was sitting across from Petunia. He lifted his eyes off of his plate and watched Petunia with interest. 

          _'I can see how Lily isn't thrilled to visit her sister. Her parents are wonderful, but her sister must have made life miserable here for Lily.' _James thought. __

"How is your sister, James?" Mrs. Evans asked, trying to change the conversation from the awkward topic that they were on before. 

          "She's doing well, she just had a baby," James beamed out. His eyes twinkled with happiness as Mr. and Mrs. Evans smiled back. 

          "Lily told us," Mrs. Evans replied as she glanced at Lily and James who were smiling now at each other. 

          "James, you went to school with Lily, correct," Mr. Evans asked.

          "Yes, we were in the same house," James replied. _'I have had this conversation so many times with this man. It is as if he's waiting to catch me in a lie so he can find out that I'm really dating his daughter...which I am not...' _

"It must have been fascinating," Mr. Evans replied with a sideways glance at Petunia. He gave her a look that meant she needed to join the conversation. 

          "So you and Lily are _friends_?" Petunia asked. Lily rolled her eyes at her sister. _'Petunia will never pass up a chance to harass me. She sounds interested and she really is because I'm involved. She knows how protective dad is over me and if James even shows a little bit of attraction towards me he will be getting the full blow of Dad's angry lectures.'_

"Yes, Lily and I are friends from school," James replied in a tone that reflected that him and Lily were nothing but friends. 

          "He's not my boyfriend," Lily snapped at Petunia. __

_          'Lily is just as upset about the fact that people think we are dating as I am...she doesn't know that deep down inside I wish that I could say that she was my girlfriend...and she never will...' _

"I never said he was!" Petunia replied with a fake tone of annoyance in her voice. 

          _'Why did I do that? That is exactly what Petunia wanted me to do! She wanted me to have an outburst like that so it seems as if James and I are hiding something from them...' _ 

          "You implied it," Lily said softly as she turned back to her food and began to eat quickly, trying to avoid the eyes of her parents, Petunia, and especially James. 

          "You answered very defensively about that, Lily," Petunia commented, seemingly innocent as she continued to pick at her food, a small smile appearing. 

          "I don't like it when people imply things that are false," Lily said as she rolled her eyes at Petunia. 

          "It was an innocent question, Lily," Mrs. Evans said as she looked at her daughter sternly. 

          "It was implying that I was more than friends with James," Lily whined as she looked to her father for help. 

          "Nothing is going on between us," James answered quickly as he cowered under the gaze of Mr. Evans. 

          "Why are you so defensive over the fact that you and James are only friends?" Mrs. Evans inquired as she looked at Lily with a gleaming in her eye. 

          "Everyone thinks that we are dating!" Lily exclaimed, quite loudly for at the dinner table at Mrs. Evans immediately gave Lily a look that told her that the last comment was uncalled for. 

          "Nothing like that has ever bothered you before. You always would let people think what they wanted to because it didn't matter if you knew the truth," Mr. Evans smiled out as he quickly bent his head down to his plate and began eating before Lily grew angry again.

          "_Everyone _thinks it, Dad," Lily replied with a strained voice, as if she were holding something back that she would like to say. 

          _'Why does he have to be so close to the truth. Why is he practically screaming 'Lily it upsets you because you want it to be real!' Why does he just sit there and smirk because he knows what I'm thinking and one slip of the tongue means that James knows too?' _Lily thought. __

"Lily, one day you will understand," Mr. Evans sighed out as the remainder of the meal was finished in silence. 

~*~

          "It's a beautiful day out," a young woman sighed as she strolled down a pebble covered path in a green park, on a day when the sun was shining high in the sky. __

A young man with messy black hair and deep hazel eyes smiled in return as he watched the baby in the stroller, who was playing with a rattle, "It is,"

          "Well," the woman asked in a suggestive voice, as she nudged the boy with messy black hair in his shoulders. Her hair swished next to his and the color matched exactly. 

          "What?" the man replied with a look in his eyes that showed that he knew exactly what the woman was implying.

          "How was dinner last night, J?" the woman asked the boy as she pushed the stroller on another path that branched out from the one that they had been traveling on. 

          "Mary, I was at a friend's house," James replied with a tone of annoyance in his voice. 

          "I know very well where you were," Mary replied as she looked at her brother expectantly. _'I can always tell when James likes someone. I always have been...and I know he likes this girl...' _

"Then why are you acting the way you are?" James shouted at Mary, who just continued walking down the path. 

          "Be quiet James, you'll wake the baby," Mary whispered to James as she looked down into her stroller and pulled the pink blanket up higher around the baby's neck. 

          "Stop avoiding my question," James warned his sister as he narrowed his eyes in her direction. 

          "What question?" Mary asked innocently, with a smirk on her face. 

          "You know very well what the question was and you are just trying to tip-toe around it! That won't work with me!" James yelled to his sister's back as she continued to stroll along seemingly ignoring her brother. 

          "How many times do I have to tell you to lower your voice?" Mary asked as she looked down at the sleeping baby once again. 

          "Just answer the question," James growled out in a low tone of voice that made his sister smile. 

          "I can tell by the way you are acting," Mary replied quietly, while glancing at the baby and praying that James wouldn't yell and wake the baby up. _'God knows I have lost enough sleep because of this amazing child. I am going to kill James if I am up late because of his love life.' _

"I am acting no differently than I would with you," James lied as he stalked off, leaving his sister and his niece walking through the park alone. Mary sighed as she kept on walking, knowing that her brother would join her as soon as he had cooled off. 

          _'My sister has always done that to me. She always tries to meddle in my personal life when her personal life has always been top secret. Mum and Dad didn't even know she was engaged until five months before the wedding. They didn't even know she was dating anyone at the time. Yet my sister finds it her business to mess around with my love life...that is sleeping at the moment...'_

James came to an abrupt stop in his quick pace when he noticed some very familiar red hair sitting on a bench next to a fountain. _'Why do I have to see her everywhere? Why after last night?'_

James walked a little closer and when he came close enough to make the features out on her face he realized that she was close to tears. He walked up behind her and whispered, "Lily, are you okay?"

          Lily froze. _'I came to this park to be alone. I came here so I could wallow in my self-pity, thinking that my life is horrible and worthless. Then he shows up, like everywhere else I go...' _

"I'm fine, James," Lily sighed as James came and sat next to her on the bench. Lily continued to stare out into nothing as thoughts raced through her head untamed. Slowly, a tear left a trail of sparkling water down her cheek.

          James reached up and wiped the tear away. _'Her skin is so soft...and she smells like watermelons...and she looks so hopeless and scared right now and I want to be the one to make her happy and make her smile again.' _

"You aren't fine," James said soothingly but firm. 

          "Yes, I am," Lily replied as she turned to face him, with more tears threatening to fall down her cheeks. 

          "Then why are you crying?" James asked tenderly as he looked at her with a stern gaze.

          "I shouldn't be," Lily replied ashamed. _'I shouldn't be crying because of something someone said to me. I shouldn't be crying because I hate the decision someone else made.' _

"But you are," James pointed out with a small smile as he scooted closer to Lily on the bench. 

          "My mum always tells me 'sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me,'" Lily laughed out hollowly. 

          "What did they say? Who said it?" James shouted out, causing a bird who had been resting in the tree they were sitting under to fly off, disturbed. 

          "My sister," Lily replied as she broke away from James' gaze and looked over at the fountain once again. The water glinted with the light of the sun reflecting it back in rays of light across the park. A rainbow shown colorfully underneath one of the falls. 

          "What did she do?" James asked softer than before. 

          "She hates me," Lily said. _'How can I be so calm and collected about this? Someone in my own family hates me. Someone I've known my entire life hates me...I'm crying outside but inside I'm just hollow.' _

James just nodded his head and reached out for Lily's hand, "It's impossible to hate you," 

          Lily sighed out and laughed lightly, "You used to hate me," 

          "It was all a facade," James whispered into Lily's hair as he breathed in her scent. 

          Lily smiled up at him and said, "I met her fiancee. He's horrible, he hates magic too, and he hates me. It's evident in the way he looks at me. I feel horrible and unwanted and I just..." Lily trailed off. 

          "You'll never be unwanted," James whispered as he pulled Lily into a hug. She in turn, wrapped her arms around him and they sat like that until James pulled his head up and looked deeply into Lily's eyes, "Are you feeling any better?" 

          "Yes," Lily replied as James leaned in closer his sister came around the bend. 

          "J, who is this?" his sister asked with a teasing tone evident in her voice. 

          James glared at his sister and responded, "This is Lily, my friend."

          "I've heard a lot about you," Mary said with a smile on her face as she kept her eyes away from her brother's. 

          _'The only way she could have heard about me is from James. Does that mean he talks about me? I'm sure he talks about me as a friend...'_

"J, we need to go, Bethany woke up," Mary commanded.

          Lily looked into the carriage to look at Bethany. The baby's eyes opened and were the same hazel color that James and his sister carried, "She has your eyes." 

          James smiled at Lily and his sister as he looked down at Bethany and said, "She's going to take after her uncle." 

          Mary snorted at this comment and smirked at James, "Not if I have anything to do with it." 

          "That hurts me," James replied with a mock sadness in his voice. 

          Lily laughed at the exchange for the first time that day. James turned his attention to Lily as he lowered his voice so only she could hear, "Are you sure you're okay?" 

          "Positive," Lily replied as she smiled warmly at James and turned to look at Bethany once again. Bethany's little finger curled around Lily's and James smiled at how natural Lily looked with the sight. 

          "We really need to go, J," Mary said as she turned to leave the park. 

          "Goodbye Lily," James said as he kissed her cheek and turned away, following his sister.

           Lily lifted her hand in a slight wave to his back.

~*~

          "You can't catch me Uncle J," a young boy said in a sing-song voice as he danced in a circle around his uncle and ran off in the other direction. 

          "Just you watch me, little J," James said as he chased off after his nephew through his sister's house. They ran straight through the house into the backyard, and so conveniently knocked over Mary on the way out. She screamed a few choice insults at James and then continued on her way through her house. 

          "Uncle J can't catch me!" the young boy with messy sandy blonde hair and hazel eyes yelled, provoking James to chase after him even more. 

          "Joseph Paul Wilson, get out of the mud!" Mary screamed with her head held out of the kitchen window. 

          James smirked at her and then whispered something in Joseph's ear. Joseph laughed and James winked as he replied, "Okay, mum."

          Mary began to back out of the window, but Joseph was too quick for her and he threw a ball of mud at his mother, hitting her in the face. 

          "Joseph Paul Wilson you are dead!" Mary screamed as she turned to run through the house to meet him and James outside. 

          James turned and shook his nephew's hand as he whispered, "Good job little J, now you better run for it and leave your mother to me." 

          Joseph nodded, smiled at James, and then turned and ran out of the backyard into the vast forest that stretched behind the house. 

          "James Christopher Potter," Mary growled, with an angry glare fixed on her brother as she stealthily walked towards him. Her face was covered in mud and James tried unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh. 

          "I wouldn't be laughing at a time like this!" Mary snapped at James as she advanced towards him quicker. James backed up against a tree on the edge of the property and whimpered slowly. 

          "Where is Joey?" Mary asked suddenly concerned as to the whereabouts of her son. She looked around the yard with nervous eyes as if she was anticipating another attack on her. 

          "I don't know," James replied with a nervous smile filtering across his face. _'I can't tell her that I told her son to run into the forest. She'd kill me! It's much more fun to watch her expect him to jump out from somewhere and throw more mud...'_

"I know you do!" Mary yelled as she raised her hand and took another step towards James. 

          He slumped under the sight of her raised hand and cried, "He ran into the forest. He knew you were coming after him." 

          Mary's eyes grew wide at this statement. For a moment she seemed breathless, then she screamed, "YOU LET LITTLE SIX YEAR OLD JOEY RUN INTO THE FOREST?!" 

          James winced at the sound her voice and guilt grew on his face as he slowly nodded his head and concentrated on a bird that was sitting in a tree a few feet away. 

          "I'll go find him," James said and without another word said he walked into the forest, his wand lighting at his command. Mary sighed as she watched him go.

~*~

          _'I've been out here for an hour already. I've been searching for an hour! I still can't find him. Mary is going to kill me, I lost her son.' _James screamed in his mind as he continued to frantically search the forest for his nephew. 

          _'If anything happens to Little J, I don't know how I would live with the guilt!' _

          Then, the sight of a dark blue robe caught his eye and James sprinted towards the sight and reached Joseph. 

          _'Please be okay!'_

"Little J," James shouted as he nudged his nephew on his shoulder. 

          Joseph lifted his head from the forest floor and his watery eyes connected with James' identical ones. James pulled him into a hug as he soothed, "I'm here you're safe."

          "I was so afraid, uncle J," Joseph admitted as he clutched James' robes tightly. 

          "So was I," James responded truthfully as he held his nephew tightly to his body. 

          "Your mother will be wanting to have you back," James said as he helped his nephew to his feet. 

          "Ouch!" Joseph cried out as his leg gave out underneath him. 

          "I'll carry you, little J," James said as he hoisted his nephew onto his back and began to walk out of the forest. 

          After around ten minutes of walking they reached Joseph's house. Mary, who had been watching through the window, ran outside and knocked Joseph off of James' shoulders and hugged him tightly, "I'm so sorry." 

          Joseph hugged his mother back and cried into her shoulder. Mary turned to James and whispered, "Thank you." 

          James smiled in return as he mumbled, "His leg is broken."

          "I'll take him to the hospital," Mary murmured as she picked Joseph up who had stopped crying and was now watching his uncle and mother's conversation with interest. 

          "No need. I have a friend," James said with a smile appearing on his face at the thought of Lily. 

          Mary realized the dreamy expression that was appearing on her brother's face as she startled him out of his thoughts by asking, "Lily?" 

          James appeared startled by the distraction that invaded his thoughts, but he nodded his head and said, "I'll go get her." 

          "Thank you," Mary called out as James took off to find Lily. 

~*~

          "I found the bell this time," James laughed out a large smile appearing on his face when Lily opened the door. 

          Lily smiled back and James as her mother appeared behind her, "Hello James, would you care to come in for tea?"

          "No thank you, Mrs. Evans," James answered politely as he stepped inside the house. 

          Lily looked at James questioningly, asking him with her eyes why he was there. James read her look as he announced, "My nephew broke his leg and I was wondering if you could fix it." 

          Lily laughed at the look on James' face. _'He looks so worried and so sincere in his question. I just can't say no to his puppy eyes...'_

"What am I getting?" Lily teased James with a smile. 

          James let out a deep breath he had been holding in and he whispered, "We'll see when I decide how well your work is."

          "Deal!" Lily replied.

          "Thank you!" James suddenly burst as he hugged Lily and began to pull her towards the doorway. 

          "I'll be back soon," Lily shouted before the door closed behind her. Her parents laughed and shook their heads as they watched their daughter leave. 

          Outside, James and Lily were walking down the street with a quick pace.

           "My sister lives only a few blocks from here so I just walked," James explained to Lily as to why they were walking.

          "It's fine," Lily said with a smile. _'I don't mind walking at all. Not if I'm with you.' _

"How did your nephew break his leg?" Lily asked after a few moments of comfortable silence. 

          "Well, erm, I'm not really sure," James replied with a confused look on his face. 

          "How can you not know?" Lily asked with a surprised look on her face. 

          "He was in the forest behind the house," James explained, leaving out the reason as to why his nephew was in the forest. 

          "Why was he out there?" Lily asked as she stopped walking and turned towards James. 

          "I told him to go," James whimpered out as he looked down at his feet. When he lifted his head, Lily melted with the concern that was clearly in his eyes. _'He loves his nephew. He feels guilty and he's concerned. I can tell all of this by looking into his eyes...' _

"Why did you do that?" Lily shouted at James, who winced at the sound of her furious voice. 

          "His mother was coming out to yell at him," James added in a small voice that showed his fright of Lily's anger. 

          "Why was she doing that?" Lily asked with suspicious eyes. 

          "He threw mud at her," James answered. 

          "Why?" 

          "I told him to," James responded as he continued to walk, refusing to meet Lily's eyes. 

          "You're dense," Lily said as she slapped his arm lightly. 

          "Why?" James asked as he turned to meet her eyes. _'Of course he's dense. He doesn't see that I care for him as much as I do. He doesn't see it at all...' _

_          'She's the one who is dense. She just jokes around with my feelings...she can't see how I feel or how I want her to feel.'_

"You should've known that it would come to this," Lily joked as they walked into his sister's house.

           Mary bounced out of James' bedroom and hugged Lily tightly, "Thank you!"

          Lily smiled at Mary and replied, "It's not a problem."

          "Would you join us for dinner this evening?" Mary asked Lily as she pulled apart from her embrace. 

          "That would be wonderful," Lily replied. 

          After Lily had mended Joseph's broken leg, Mary had thanked her profusely, and then had gone to tend to the baby. James and Lily were sitting in the kitchen at the table watching each other while trying to avoid each other's eyes. 

          "You said you were going to give me something for doing this," Lily teased. 

          James looked up and met her eyes as he asked, "What would you like." 

          Lily sat and pretended to think about it. _'If only I could tell him what I really want from him, that I want him to hold me, I want him to tell me he loves me, I want him to kiss me.' _

"Walk me home," Lily replied with a smile as she got up from the table and extended her hand to help James up. James grabbed onto her hand and shivers shot up both of their arms. 

          _'I wish she would've asked me to hold her, or to tell her that I love her, or asked me to kiss her.' _

James stood up and dropped Lily's hand reluctantly and they both walked towards the door. The walk to Lily's house was made in an awkward silence. Both of them were wrapped up in their thoughts of each other and what should have been said or done. 

          When they reached Lily's house a few minutes later she turned to James and whispered, "Thank you." 

          James pulled her into another hug as he also whispered, "You're very welcome, Lily flower." 

          "I'll see you in a few hours," Lily called out. 

          Lily smiled as she pulled back just far enough to look James in his eye. They were leaning in once again and Lily's eyes closed as James leaned in and kissed her cheek. She let out a small sigh as she opened her eyes and walked to her door. 

          "Goodbye," James shouted to her retreating form.

~*~

          "Did you have fun walking Lily home?" Mary asked James as she tossed the salad. James didn't respond as he sat down at the table apparently deep in thought. 

          _'What am I going to say tonight? What am I going to do? What if she's mad because I almost kissed her? What will she think of me? How will I act?' _

"James!" Mary shouted as she threw a carrot at his head. James ducked the carrot easily, still not taking his mind off of Lily. 

          "Damn Quidditch," Mary mumbled as she threw the carrot away. Joseph ran into the room on his newly repaired leg. He went over to James and James pulled him into his lap. 

          "Joey, go change your robes, Lily is coming for dinner," Mary scolded as she tried to push her son out of the kitchen. 

          "Uncle J, your girlfriend is staying for dinner!" Joey shouted happily as he turned to face James with a smile on his innocent face. 

          "She's not my girlfriend, Little J," James replied as he gave Joseph a look that meant that he was going down the wrong road. 

          Joey seemed to miss the meaning of the look his uncle gave him and laughed, "Don't lie, Uncle J." 

          Mary snorted at this comment and turned around with another carrot in her hand, "J, you shouldn't teach Joey to lie." 

          James grew bright red as he shouted, "Lily is not my girlfriend!" 

          Joey laughed at his uncle's outburst and pushed his uncle's glasses back up on his nose as he said, "Well you sure act like it."

          James looked confused as he asked, "How do I act like it?" 

          Joey made a face that showed that he didn't enjoy this topic, "You look at her like Mum looks at Dad." 

          "That doesn't mean she's my girlfriend," James replied with a far off look in his eye as he looked at his nephew. 

          _'He has no idea how close he is. He has no idea how much I want Lily to be my girlfriend. He has no idea that I'm telling the truth.' _

"She looks at you the same way. How do you explain _that_?" Joseph asked James as he rolled his eyes. 

          James looked at Joey startled, "How does she look at me?"

          Joey sighed out, annoyed, "I just told you. Like Mum looks at Dad."__

_          'There is no way that Lily looks at me like that. That would mean Lily was in love with me and she isn't in love with me. Why does Joey think she is?'_

"She doesn't look at me that way," James snapped at Joey. 

          "Yes, she does," Joey responded with a knowing look on his face, "I'm not blind." 

          "Just don't kiss her a lot tonight," Joey replied as he wrinkled his nose, "I don't like that." 

          "I don't want to," James lied. _'I won't let my six year old nephew know that I want to snog Lily. I refuse to!'_

          "Yes you do," Joey replied as he picked a piece of dirt off of his robes. 

          "Why do you think that?" James asked curiously. 

          Joey rolled his eyes at his uncle as he said, "You were flirting with her." 

          "I was not!" James shouted.

          "Yes you were!" Joey insisted.

          "Just don't start snogging in front of everyone. We don't need to see that," Joey whined. 

          James looked shocked at his nephew's comment. He opened his mouth to respond but wasn't able to.

           "Joey, I told you to go change!" Mary shrieked as she turned around, peeved by her brother and her son's arguing. Joey got off of James' lap and bounced out of the room.

          "Joey's right," Mary replied with a smile as she turned back around and continued shredding carrots. 

          "About what?" James said as he put his head down into his hands. 

          "You do look at Lily like that," Mary teased as she poked him with a carrot. 

          "I don't," James insisted without success. 

          Mary ignored him and continued, "Lily does look at you like that." 

          "I don't believe that," James replied, sounding muffled as his head was still in his hands. 

          "She does, it's very obvious," Mary said with a smirk. 

          "No, she doesn't," James insisted a little louder than before. 

          "She flirts with you, and you flirt with her," Mary added. 

          "When?" James asked. _'She won't be able to have any evidence because Lily doesn't flirt with me and I don't flirt with her!' _

"What about when you were hugging at the park," Mary suggested. 

          James winced. He had forgotten about that, "She was crying." 

          "She wasn't anymore. You seemed to have stopped it easily," Mary implied. 

          "She had been crying," James corrected himself as he rolled his eyes at his sister's back. 

          "You were about to kiss her," Mary accused. 

          "I wasn't," James mumbled out. 

          "Then she was about to kiss you," Mary said as she busied herself with the food. 

          "No she wasn't," James insisted. 

          "Yes, she was," Mary told James forcefully. 

          "You're crazy," James shouted at his sister. 

          "You're blind," Mary screamed back at James. 

          "I have glasses!" James exclaimed as he pointed to his glasses that rested on his nose. 

          "They don't work very well do they?" Mary asked sarcastically. 

          "What do you mean by that?" James asked, shocked by his sister's outburst. 

          "You can't see what is right in front of you!" Mary shouted to her younger brother. 

          "That's because there isn't anything!" James shouted.

          "There is! That's what's amazing. You both seem oblivious to the whole entire situation," Mary said with annoyance. 

          "I think you need to have your head checked," James said as he rolled his eyes at his sister. 

          "I think you are just afraid!" Mary indicted. 

          "Of what?" James asked. 

          "Of your feelings," Mary said as her voice softened. 

          "I am not," James insisted. 

          "Yes—" Mary began before she was cut off by a voice in the doorway. 

          "Did I interrupt something?" Lily asked as she stood in the doorway wearing a white dress that flowed around her knees. She smiled at James who just stood gaping at her. 

          "I need to go...uh...do something," James stumbled as he raced out of the room as quickly as he could leaving Mary laughing and Lily looking confused and hurt at his sudden departure. 

~*~

          A few minutes later, when everyone sat down to dinner, James still had not talked to Lily or caught her eyes. The conversation was mainly small talk until Joey decided to bring up a certain topic that made two members of the table squirm. 

          "Are you uncle J's girlfriend?" Joey turned to Lily and asked. 

          Lily dropped her fork onto her plate with a loud clatter as she shakily answered, "No, Joey, I'm not." 

          "That's what he said too," Joey said, looking between Lily and James suspiciously. 

          "Why do you guys lie about it?" Joey asked innocently. 

          "We're not lying, it's the truth," James said as he kicked Joey lightly underneath the table.

           Joey took no notice of this as he turned to Lily and asked, "Is it really the truth?" 

          Lily nodded her head. _'Did James say something to suggest that I was his girlfriend? Does he call me his girlfriend? If he does then why is he denying it?'_

"Why do you think that I'm James' girlfriend?" Lily asked innocently as she looked into Joey's eyes. _'He has James' eyes also. The whole family seems to have inherited those amazing eyes.' _

"You act like it," Joey shrugged and turned back to his dinner, trying to drop the old subject that had been discussed only a few minutes earlier without Lily. 

          "How do we act like it?" Lily asked. 

          "You look at each other like Mum and Dad do," Joey said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world as he took a sip of water. 

          "Joey, I don't think Lily and James particularly enjoy this conversation," Joey's father told his son quietly. Joey ignored his father's words as his parents blushed at the comment that Joey had used. 

          "Why does that mean we are dating?" Lily asked in the same way that James had. 

          "They're married," Joey said, rolling his eyes as if Lily and James were forgetting something very stupid, "I know that you aren't married, so you must be dating." 

          "We aren't," Lily replied as she tried to busy herself with her food. 

          "I think you are and you're just not telling me," Joey sighed into his plate.

          "We aren't lying to you," James told his nephew as he smiled at him. 

          "Lily, he looks at you the same way, how can you explain that?" Joey asked.

          _'James looks at me in that way? In the way that he is madly in love with me? Joey must be mistaken, there is no way that James looks at me that way!'_

"I think that would be James' area to explain," Lily said with a smirk at James who just glared at her for bringing him into this conversation that he had already suffered through. 

          "He's no help," Joey said exasperated. 

          "Oh," Lily said, at a loss for words as to why the conversation was heading in this direction. She saw James place his head in his hands as he often did when he was embarrassed to hide his blushing face. 

          "Just don't kiss him," Joey said with a look of disgust on his face. 

          "I wasn't going to," Lily said with shock in her eyes. 

          "You probably are. Just wait until I'm out of the room," Joey instructed Lily.

          "I don't think that your uncle is planning on kissing me anytime soon," Lily whispered to Joey who sat next to her. 

          "I think he is," Joey burst out. James buried his head into his hands deeper. 

          "Why do you think that?" Lily asked, by now her face was as red as her hair. 

          "You were flirting with him," Joey explained. 

          "When?" Lily asked, very unsure if she wanted to hear the answer. 

          "Whenever you are together," Joey replied. 

          Lily didn't comment on that statement, and neither did James. The dinner ended just as it had begun with Lily and James avoiding each other, and small talk made between the rest of the family, and Joey looking between Lily and James for more clues that they were dating. 

~*~

**Author's Note: **I hope that you enjoyed that chapter. I loved writing it! This chapter was the easiest to write of all of them. The words just flowed out so easily and I didn't even have to think about it! I have to thank my amazing betas who go through my extra long chapters every single time wonderfully! So thank you Brenda, Nat, Victoria, and Manda! 

I also have to thank my reviewers and offer my comments. What fun would the ending of the chapter be if I didn't do that?!

**The Stek: **I'm so thrilled that you think that my story is GREAT! I hope that this chapter makes you giggle some more!! Joey sure made me laugh! It will happen later on! What fun would it be if it happened now?

**Kellie: **I'm glad that you liked Chapters 2 and 3 and this one is just as long so hopefully you will enjoy it just as much!

**Angelisa Snape: **Lol you would know about me hassling betas wouldn't you! I'm glad that you enjoyed it to! I'm honored! That's so cool that Vivian reviews you too! It's awesome! It must be our names...lol and I'm glad that you enjoyed the restaurant scene. 

**Smile28: **I'm glad that their mistakes are amusing! They were intended to be that way. There isn't much falling in this chapter...but there will be more to come! It will be 17 chapters long by the way. I have the whole outline done I know when EVERYTHING is going to happen!

**Zetta: **I'm glad that you think my story is cute. Hopefully I cut down on my problem of repeating things...hmm I don't really know if I did or not sometimes I do it for dramatic effect...one of my annoying writing habits I'm sorry it bothers you! I hope you continue to read. Thanks for pointing it out to me!

**I o u a name: **Thank you for the compliments on the restaurant scene! I was very fond of it also! I can't have them kiss now! Where would the fun be in that?!

**Bell: **Sorry you didn't get a shout out I'll make a note to always have a shoutout for you! Just keep reviewing! I'm sure that after they kiss they won't be as awkward around each other...well maybe at first but defiantly not later. I agree-parents can be annoying!

**Oobergoober: **Ah! I know what you mean someone accused me and my friend of liking each other and he calls me sis. It was just wrong! I hope this chapter was good too and I know it wasn't as fast though bc one of my betas is on vacation...

**Elegystar: **I'm glad that it was brilliant again! I feel so special because of your reviews! I'm sorry to say that they will continue to be interrupted for a while...but it has to be done! There would be no fun otherwise!

**Kanariya: **You're welcome for the note and here is another one! Thank you for reviewing! I hope u loved this chapter too!

**LENAk: **I'm glad you like how everything is going during this story! I love hearing from everyone who loves the story...and doesn't...it gives me helpful hints on how to keep writing!

**Moon*wolf: **I'm so glad that you love this story! I'm sorry that they can't have a break but it would be no fun if they did! Thank you for putting me on your fav author's list! I'm honored! 

**Princess Emily: **Thank you for the wonderful email and for this review! I hope that this chapter is just as funny and you enjoy it just as much!

**cemhp4eva: **I'm glad that you enjoy and I hope that you enjoy this one just as much!

**PaDMa: **I know I feel bad for them too...as for kissing soon...we'll have to see. There would be no fun if anything happened this soon!!! It will be before the last chapter I promise! I'm glad you love my story!!!

**meLisSa: **I'm sorry that I didn't put any action in this chapter...but you'll just have to wait. What would the fun be if they got some action now? It's better to let the anticipation build up! Please keep reading it will happen eventually!

**Elvencherry07: **They will kiss eventually. As I have told many people there would be no fun if they kissed now!!

**Diana: **I'm glad that you like my story! I will get rid of the distractions...eventually...it would be no fun if they kissed now! But I feel your frustrations. I'm frustrated that I can't have them kiss yet!

**Hermione101888: **Don't worry about reviewing late! You still reviewed! I hope that you had fun camping! I'm so glad that you love my story and thank you for the compliment about my writing! I hope you enjoyed what happens next!

**kat6528: **Hopefully I didn't make you wait too long!!

** sajal**: Thank you so much! You always leave such nice reviews!! I really want to be an author so what you said means everything! Thank you!

**Geets: **Sorry I took a while...betas on vacation...I'm sure you understand. Thank you so much for your review!!!!!


	5. This Is Not Funny

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1**Summary:** Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate? 

**Disclaimer:** I have to say that you need to go buy some glasses. You obviously DO NOT have 20/20 vision if you think that I own these characters or places or anything that you recognize. I don't! J.K. Rowling does!! 

**Author's Note: **I have to say that I have been spitting chapters out as fast as I can think. I'm going faster than my betas can send back and I'm very sorry for them because of that. I know you are all very happy and truthfully so am I! So here is Chapter 5 of Excuse Me Miss Evans for your own enjoyment. It continues right where Chapter 4 left off in the middle of their awkward dinner!! Lol... And! Dun dun dun! The arrival of Remus Lupin everybody!! Please review and tell me to keep writing because I always need your encouragement! 

**Midnight Goddess**

.....................................................................

**Excuse Me Miss Evans**

**Chapter Five: This Is Not Funny!**

**By: Midnight Goddess**

.....................................................................

          "Lily, would you please pass the carrots?" James mumbled quietly, trying to keep himself from making contact with Lily's eyes or her hand. _'I hope no one notices that I was talking to Lily. I don't want Joey to have another outburst like the one he just had.' _

James was out of luck, for Lily turned and her eyes locked magnetically with James' as they watched each other expectantly, hoping to all higher power that they would not be noticed but neither having the strength to break away. 

          "What?" Lily asked, suddenly occupied by James, and less than entertained by her food, which had been her dinner companion for the few awkward minutes that followed Joey's interrogation. 

          "Would you please pass the carrots?" James asked again, a little louder for Joey was watching them very suspiciously out of the corner of his eye as he moved his own carrots around with his fork. 

          "Of course," Lily responded quickly as she grabbed the carrot bowl and handed it to James. Their fingers brushed up against each other as they passed the bowl, a tingling sensation went up Lily's arm. 

          _'Why does he have to do this to me? I can't act normal around him because he makes me feel this way.' _Lily thought. 

          Unfortunately, when Lily pulled her hand away from the bowl, trying to remove the tingling sensation from her arm, James also decided to rid himself of the feel also and the bowl of carrots dropped and smashed on the floor, splattering carrots everywhere. 

          _'Here we go again...the disaster strikes as always.' _James thought as he covered his face in his arms. 

          "Uncle J, maybe if you two didn't stare at each other so much you wouldn't drop things!" Joey proposed innocently as he put a carrot into his mouth. 

          "Let's have coffee!" Mary announced quickly, before Joey had another chance to open his mouth. 

          Joey made a face at the mentioning of coffee and his father turned to him and said, "Joey, it's time for you to go to bed."

          Joey didn't complain and just said, "I didn't really want to see them kiss anyway." 

          With that, he bounced out of the room, leaving a very red Lily and James behind. Lily and James desperately tried to keep their eyes away from each other. Mary noted their awkwardness and smiled. _'They are oblivious to everything in front of them.' _

As the four of them walked into the sitting room, Lily trailed behind everyone else, not wanting to walk too closely next to James. She didn't look at the cords that were carelessly placed on the floor and she tripped over it, sending her sprawling down onto the floor. 

          With a bang the lamp, that the cord had been connected to it fell down and crashed dangerously close to Lily's head. She clamped her eyes tightly, trying to gather up enough courage to face everyone's smiling face. 

          _'It is nice to see Lily fall instead of me for once...' _

"Are you okay?" James asked sincerely concerned, lifting Lily's arm up off of her face and trying to read her expressions to find the truth of how she felt. 

          "Perfect," Lily responded sarcastically, still clamping her eyes shut, not wanting to look at the trouble she had caused. 

          "It's not as bad as you think," Mary's voice rang out from somewhere on the other side of the room. 

          _'I can hear the amusement in her voice. To everyone we are a joke...the way we act around each other is funny to everyone.' _Lily thought. 

          At this point in time, Joey ran into the room, looking as if he had just woken up. His hair was sticking up in odd directions, as James' hair often did, and he was rubbing his half opened eyes sleepily. 

          "What happened?" Joey asked, not taking notice of state of the room, or its occupants. 

          "Lily just knocked over the lamp," Mary answered quickly, trying to remove Joey from the room, knowing how he turned even the simplest conversation into an increasingly growing awkward one. 

          Joey's eyes widened as he saw Lily laying on the floor and James crouched next to her holding her hand and looking at a cut on her arm that blood was trickling slowly out onto a handkerchief that James was holding there.  

          "Are you okay?" Joey asked as he sat down next to James and look at Lily's cut arm. 

          "She's fine, Little J," James replied a little crossly at his nephew for interrupting his job of taking care of Lily. 

          Joey seemed amused at the sight before him and he said in a small patronizing tone, "Uncle J, you aren't a very good actor." 

          Mary had to stifle a giggle at her son who was bringing up the topic that they had tried to hard to avoid once again. 

          "Joey, you can go back to bed now," Joey's father commanded, trying to push Joey out of the room. 

          Joey then bent down and whispered in James' ear, "Thank you for waiting until I left." 

          James turned a brilliant shade a pink as Joey danced off out of the room and back into his bed. Mary finally laughed and Lily looked around between the family with signs of confusion. 

          "How about you two step outside while I get us some coffee?" Mary suggested to James and Lily as she led them outside and closed the door.

~*~

          Lily and James stepped outside, letting the cool air rush over their reddened faces. James kicked at a few stones and Lily just stood there, both trying to avoid each other's eyes, while trying to study the other and see what they thought about Joey's outburst. 

          "How is your arm?" James asked quietly as he finally gave in and turned towards Lily. 

          "It's feeling much better, thank you." Lily replied politely, still trying to avoid James' attempt at conversation. 

          Once again silence engulfed them, daring them to speak, and to chance glances at one another.

          "I'm sorry about Joey," James explained as he kept his eyes away from Lily and staring out into the forest. 

          "It's fine," Lily insisted, as she too kept her eyes locked on the vast collection of trees on the back of the property. 

          "He has an overactive imagination," James laughed out nervously, wondering if that was the right thing to say immediately after the words had escaped his lips. 

          _'Of course he does. James does not look at me in any way like that...and I certainly do not look at him...It's just Joey's overactive imagination...' _

"Does he act like this around everyone?" Lily asked with a small giggle, thinking of Joey doing it to any woman who entered the house. 

          "Er...no," James answered nervously, making sure that he was keeping himself distanced from Lily, and his eyes away from anywhere they might meet hers. 

          The silence flew over them again and wrapped them up in its tense feeling. The atmosphere was thickening by every second that passed without another word being spoken. 

          "You must be special," James smiled, breaking the silence, and finally turned to face Lily. 

          _'If things are ever going to be the same between us again, I need to get over these awkward moments and pretend that they never happened. I need to pretend that Joey did not call Lily my girlfriend and say that I wanted to kiss her...ugh I think that it is physically impossible.' _James decided. 

          "I suppose," Lily replied, trying desperately to turn away from James. 

          _'I can't let him see how I really feel. How I wanted everything that Joey said to be true...I know that James doesn't want any of that and I can't allow myself for him to find how I truly feel.' _Lily thought as she diverted her eyes out towards the trees once again. 

          "Lily?" James asked softly as he reached his hand out to rest on her arm lightly. 

          "What?" Lily asked, grabbing her prickling arm back quickly away from James' reach. 

          "What's wrong?" James asked taking a step closer to Lily, who automatically backed away from his reach once again. 

          "Nothing," Lily snapped as she closed her eyes and turned away from his gaze once again, feeling it burning on her neck.

          "Something is wrong!" James insisted as he took a step closer to Lily, who appeared to shrink on the spot when he touched her shoulder. 

          "You're wrong," Lily protested as she whipped around trying to go back inside and leave James' intense gaze. 

          "I'm right," James announced as he grabbed her wrist, forcing her to stay outside. 

          "Please," Lily murmured as James took a step towards her, closing a large gap that had been between their bodies. 

          "Yes?" James asked distractedly as he looked deeply into Lily's eyes. 

          "Nothing," Lily replied as she instinctively closed her eyes and tilted her head upwards waiting for contact, which she had been craving. 

          James smiled as he leaned in, he could feel her warm breath softly on his cheek. _'I am so glad that Joey is not here to ruin this...' _

At that moment, the door opened and slammed into James' back, knocking him over and causing him to fall on top of Lily. They rolled down the steps and promptly landed in a play pool that had been set down for Joey. 

          The splash caused Mary, who had opened the door, to look in their direction and gasp in both amazement and amusement of the conditions, "Was that me?" 

          James just glared at Mary as he said, "No, Lily and I just decided to go for a swim." 

          Mary rolled her eyes at her brother as she sheepishly responded, "Sorry." 

          James shot daggers at his sister, who was now trying hard not to laugh at the sight that laid before her, "This is not funny!" 

          "No, not at all," Mary gasped out, trying to breathe. 

          At that moment Mary's husband walked outside with Joey on his tail trying to figure out what all the commotion was outside, "What's going on?" 

          "Nothing, Paul, Lily and James just decided to go for a swim," unfortunately, Mary was unable to keep a straight face and the words were garbled with laughter. 

          "But they've got their clothes still on!" Joey burst out suddenly, bringing the laughter from Mary and now Paul even harder than before. 

          Lily and James just sat awkwardly in the pool of water, freezing, "It's cold! Do you think that you could help us?" 

          "Jamsie, I could always just transform it into a hot tub for you two!" Mary burst out between her giggles of what she had walked in on and what she had done. 

          "What?!" Lily and James burst out at the same moment, clearly embarrassed and shocked by the suggestive glint that was in her eyes. 

          "I know what you were doing out here," Mary giggled out. 

          "We were talking," Lily replied seriously as she squirmed uncomfortably in the pool trying to distance herself from James. 

          "And then some," Mary added on as she laughed even harder, leaning on Paul for support. 

          "Why is this so funny?" James asked incredulously, wondering what had caused his sister to laugh so hard. 

          "You...you...were..." Mary began before she completely lost her wording again and burst out laughing. 

          Joey's eyes widened as he exclaimed, "You kissed her finally Uncle Jay!" 

          James and Lily both visibly inched away from each other at this statement as they both shouted in unison, "No!" 

          Joey rolled his eyes at their outburst and said, "Then what does mom think is so funny, you don't move _that_ fast Uncle J!" 

          James' mouth hung open at that comment as he turned to Mary and said, "What are you teaching your son?!" 

          Mary began laughing harder as she managed to choke out between giggles, "Mom and dad...came to visit...didn't lock door." 

          James covered his ears at that moment and screamed, "Don't tell me any more!" 

          Finally, in midst of all the laughter, Mary waved her wand and dried Lily and James as she stumbled back into the house saying, "There you go."

~*~

          "I left my purse at your sisters' house," Lily nervously told James as he opened the door to his flat, showing a very nervous, and embarrassed Lily. 

          "I have it," James told Lily, but he didn't move from the doorway. 

          "I left in such a hurry," Lily rambled quickly, trying to avoid the awkward silence that she knew would begin if she closed her mouth. 

          "It was cold," James added in as he still stood at the door without Lily's purse. 

          "We were wet," Lily added also, determined not to let the silence take over. 

          "Would you like to come in?" James asked suddenly as he held the door open for Lily to enter. 

          Lily nodded her head and stepped into James' flat, letting the familiar, warm feel of the room wash over her, the flat seemed quiet and Lily asked, "Where is Sirius?" 

          "Out snogging someone," James answered with a smile as he walked over to the table where Lily's purse rested. 

          "He told you?" Lily asked, as she giggled slight at the thought of Sirius telling James exactly where he was going. 

          "Well, no," James answered as he snuck a glance back into the hallway that led towards the back of the apartment. 

          "Then why do you think that?" Lily asked through laughter as she beamed up at James.

          "To tell you the truth, I found a very suspicious piece of woman's clothing in the hallway that I know wasn't mine, and I'm pretty sure isn't Sirius'," James told Lily, causing her to laugh harder. 

          "You were only _pretty _sure it wasn't his?" Lily teased as she took her purse from James. 

          "With Sirius you never know," James joked. 

          Lily laughed in reply as she fidgeted now that their conversation was wearing thin.

          "Would you like something to drink?" James asked suddenly as he turned to walk towards the kitchen. 

          "Yes, please," Lily answered as she trailed behind him into the familiar kitchen. 

          "Who do you think he's with?" Lily asked James casually as she accepted the cup from him. 

          "This is Sirius Black we are talking about, it could be _anyone_," James insisted as he sat down at the kitchen table. 

          "Anyone?" Lily questioned coyly as she also sat down at the table across from James. 

          "It could be some random girl he picked up in a bar, it could be some random girl who remember him from Hogwarts, or it could be Professor McGonagall, it's just hard to say," James said calmly as he smiled into his cup. 

          "That's the grossest thing I have heard in my life," Lily responded as she made a face of disgust. 

          "I'm betting it's some random girl from a bar," James replied as she threw three sickles onto the table. 

          "I'm going to have to say that it will be someone who was with us at Hogwarts," Lily said throwing four sickles out. 

          "Playing dangerous Evans?" James asked as he raised his eyebrow at the money out on the table. 

          Lily laughed and replied, "I live on the wild side." 

          At that moment they heard the door open and Sirius' voice fill the room, "I don't think James is home." 

          Lily and James quickly covered their mouths to hide the laughter that was bubbling up inside them.

          "Should we go check it out?" Lily asked James once she gained control of her vocal chords. 

          "Yes, quickly before Sirius starts moving," James replied with a wink. 

          Lily and James crept towards the kitchen door and leaned up against it trying to listen to what was going on in the other room, Sirius was saying, "Would you like something to drink?"

          Lily and James looked around frantically, until James pulled Lily underneath the kitchen table. Just as they had gotten their breathing under control, Sirius burst into the kitchen humming a happy tune. He poured two glasses of butterbeer and left the kitchen in a flash. 

          "Is he always that dense?" Lily asked James, amazed. 

          "Usually," James replied as he rolled his eyes and climbed out from underneath the table. Helping Lily to her feet. 

          Then once again, they silently crept towards the door and leaned in to try and hear more of the conversation. There was silence in the room. 

          "You don't think?" Lily questioned with a look of disgust on her face. 

          "I hope not," James answered with the same look of fear. 

          At this point Lily and James had forgotten their quest. Their eyes locked and the world seemed to dissolve around them. As they were leaning in closer James rested his hand on the kitchen door, which promptly swung open causing him and Lily to go crashing to the floor, or their own accord. 

          "What is going on?!" Sirius yelled jumping up from the sofa and looking down on James and Lily. 

          The woman, who Sirius had brought home got up also, and once she saw who was laying on the floor, smiled a large knowing smile. 

          "Jamsie, what were you doing in the kitchen?" Sirius asked as he looked down on his two friends. 

          "Not what was going on out here," James said as he clamped his eyes trying to wish himself out of the situation. 

          "Bella and I were drinking butterbeer, that rules out so many possibilities," Sirius said rolling his eyes. 

          Lily and James' eyes shot open and they both sat up banging their heads, "Bella?!"

          Arabella laughed at their faces as Lily turned towards James and said, "You owe me three sickles!" 

          James rolled his eyes but dropped the coins into Lily's outstretched hand as they stood up, "Sirius, so it than that pink article of clothing I found over the lamp this morning was Bella's?" 

          Arabella's eyes widened as she hid her face from everyone's view, causing Lily and James to burst into laughter. 

          "You guys won't be laughing when we find Lily's—" Arabella began. 

          "I don't think that will be happening," James said in a sing-song voice as he looked back at Lily who had stopped laughing at Arabella. 

          "Maybe we should bet on it," Arabella said with a wink. 

          James rolled his eyes at Arabella and said, "Maybe not."

          "It won't happen," Lily said as she shook her head to emphasize her statement. 

          "Yes it will," Arabella insisted with a charming smile

          Sirius nodded his head in agreement as Lily and James tried to avoid one another once again. 

~*~

          "James Potter!" Mary yelled through the fireplace. Her legs were already cramping from waiting and yelling into his apartment for so long, she was just about to leave when James walked sleepily into the room. 

          "Mary, why are you calling this early?" James asked as he tried to stifle a yawn and plopped down into a chair facing the fireplace. 

          "It's ten," Mary said in a deadpan voice as she rolled her eyes at her brother, who was only wearing his boxers and looking as if he had just been awoken from the dead. 

          "I was asleep!" James replied vigorously. 

          "What were you doing up so late?" Mary asked with a small smile appearing on her face. 

          "I couldn't sleep," James replied quickly, completely catching Mary's implied statement. 

          Only a few seconds after James had uttered that statement, the door to the kitchen opened and Lily poked her head out of it and said, "James, you're finally awake! Would you like some coffee?"

          James' eyes widened at the sight of Lily in his apartment and Mary tried to hide her laughter at James' startled expression, and Lily's clueless one. 

          "Lily, I didn't expect to see you here in _James_ apartment so _early _in the morning," Mary announced with her eyes twinkling. 

          "You admit that it's early!" James shouted as he smirked at his sister. 

          Lily blushed as she finally noticed what Mary was hinting at. Her eyes traveled over towards James and she quickly tore them away and said, "I came with Bella. Her and Sirius wanted to _talk_." 

          James snorted at that comment and Mary said, "James, I need you to babysit Joey." 

          James turned white at the mentioning of Joey around Lily and he slowly nodded his head. 

          "Since your friends seem to be preoccupied, Lily should come," Mary added with a wink at James. 

          "Okay," Lily blurted out trying to keep her blushing under control. 

          "Oh and James, put some clothes on please," Mary added right as she disappeared from the fireplace. 

~*~

          Around an hour later, Lily and James were standing quite uncomfortably next to each other at the doorstep of Mary's house, waiting for Joey to come out of the bathroom. 

          "Ready Little J?" James asked once Joey emerged from the room. A smile grew on his face as he noted Lily and James together. 

          "Yes, Uncle J," Joey replied lightly as he skipped towards the doorway and held it open for his uncle and Lily. 

          As they approached the playground, Joey ran off, leaving James and Lily walking awkwardly next to each other without anything to say. The wind rustled the leaves in the trees that lined the playground, also ruffling Lily's hair as James noted. 

          "Your hair is getting as messy as mine," James commented as he finally built up enough courage to open his mouth. 

          "That will never happen," Lily answered in response as she automatically began flattening down her hair with her hands. 

          "I doubt that," James grinned as he reached up and ruffled up Lily's hair, not removing his hand until Lily's hair was sticking up in odder angles than James' was. 

          Lily then proceeded to chase James around the playground as Joey suddenly stopped swinging and began to watch them with interest. 

          James' eyes widened as he felt many grains of sand slip down the back of his shirt, "Evans!" 

          Lily just smiled sweetly before darting away from James' grasp and running towards the playground equipment, "You can't catch me!" 

          "Uncle J, aren't you nineteen?" Joey asked with wonder woven in every breath. 

          "Yes," James replied as he stopped chasing Lily and turned towards his nephew. 

          "Isn't that a little _old_ to be playing tag?" Joey asked through a face of confusion. 

          James didn't have time to respond because at that moment he felt a wave of coldness wash down the back of his shirt. 

          "What was that for?!" James yelled as Lily ran off giggling tossing the water bottle she had been holding to the side. 

          James chased after Lily towards the trees that were lined up on the outer ledge of the playground. Joey rolled his eyes and trudged along after James and Lily. 

          Lily turned around as a pinecone hit her in the back of her head. She slowly advanced towards James just as he began advancing towards her. 

          "You threw a pinecone at me!" James and Lily exclaimed in unison. They blinked at each other as they both turned to face Joey who was standing behind them, quickly trying to drop another pinecone he was holding in his hand. 

          "What are you doing?" James asked with exasperation. 

          "Trying to knock some sense into you," Joey responded as he tossed the pinecone behind him, "I can tell now that it won't do much good, Dad would say you were as stubborn as a mlude." 

          Lily giggled slightly as she corrected Joey, "Stubborn as a mule." 

          Joey didn't seem to take notice of her correction as he announced, "I'm going to go get a drink of water, Uncle J." 

          Before James or Lily could respond, Joey had raced out of the forest, leaving James and Lily to ponder what Joey had just told them. 

          "You have a pinecone stuck in your hair," James blurted out as he instinctively took a step closer to Lily to pull it out for her. Her hands flew up to her hair to try and remove it and as their hands met with a jolt they began leaning forward. 

          "See it's not _that_ hard," Joey announced as he came back to find James and Lily leaning towards each other expectantly. 

          "Why do we keep getting interrupted?!" James shouted up towards the trees. After he had uttered that sentence he clasped his hand over his mouth, his eyes wide with the shock of what he had just said. 

          Lily turned scarlet, as did James after this sentence had been spoken. The awkward silence that was almost positive to follow wasn't allowed to because of the other company in the forest. 

          "Maybe you two should go somewhere more private," Joey answered innocently as he looked at his uncle with a grin. 

          "Look at the time," Lily cut into the conversation, trying to stop Joey from talking any longer but not succeeding. 

          "Uncle J, you have an apartment!" Joey burst out. 

          "I think it's time to go!" Lily shouted above Joey's shrieks. 

          "Lily's right. We need to go," James told Joey as he tried to push him out of the small forest near the park. 

          "Am I leaving so you can go to your apartment Uncle J?" Joey asked impassively as he was continued to be pushed out of the forest. 

          "Your mum is home," Lily told Joey quickly as James took his hand and they left the park without another word on the matter that had been at hand. 

~*~

          "Did you have a nice time at the playground?" Arabella asked Lily with a smirk as she and James walked into the apartment silently. 

          "Yes," Lily replied simply, and without emotion, as she and James just stood in the middle of the room quietly.

          _'I cannot believe that I said that.' _James thought. _'Now Lily knows that I want to kiss her. She knows how I feel. I wish I could just disappear from the face of the earth right now so I wouldn't have to bear with everyone's reactions.' _

"Did anything _interesting _happen?" Sirius asked as he tried to hold back a smile that was beginning to appear. 

          "What is that supposed to mean?" James snapped at Sirius as he automatically took a step away from Lily. 

          "Joey could have beat up a Slytherin, since we're going along those lines you could've been beaten up by some large muggle, or maybe something could've happened that caused you and Lily to become as red as you are," Sirius explained. 

          "I don't think that Joey beating up a Slytherin would cause Lily and James to blush like that. Do you Sirius?" Arabella announced as she got up from her chair and came over towards the sofa to sit next to Sirius and help him interrogate their friends. 

          "No, unless they missed it because they were busy doing something else," Sirius explained to Arabella. 

          "That is a possibility," Arabella announced as she glanced at Lily and James' reactions to their conversation. 

          "I think we've got them wound up," Sirius said as he too noticed Lily and James begin fidgeting and becoming highly uncomfortable with each other. __

"Joey didn't beat up a Slytherin," James managed to choke out in an attempt to drop the conversation.

          "That's a shame," Sirius responded, determined not to let the conversation drop and Lily and James get away from what they were hiding. 

          "We were so close," Arabella added with a wink in Sirius' direction. 

          "Jamsie, that brings us to the next question," Sirius announced happily, he was bouncing up and down on the sofa with the anticipation of finding out the truth behind what happened at the playground. 

          "What is it?" James asked through his hands, which were now covering his bright red face. 

          "Did you get beat up by an extra large muggle?" Sirius asked desperately trying not to burst out laughing. 

          Even Lily giggled at the question as she watched James gasp for words, clearly startled by the question. 

          "What?" James finally managed to say. 

          "Sirius, why would Lily and James be blushing at that?" Arabella laughed out, unable to contain her giggles. 

          "For many reasons, James could have gotten beaten up trying to be brave and defend Lily, or perhaps Lily took care of him afterwards," Sirius asked watching James and Lily both squirm at these comments. 

          "I didn't get beat up by a muggle," James sighed out, annoyed by his friends' actions. 

          "Pity," Arabella said shortly. 

          "What?!" Lily asked clearly surprised, "Why is it a pity that James didn't get beat up? Do you two want him to be hurt?" 

          "You sure are protective of him," Sirius said quickly. 

          That caused Lily to turn an even deeper crimson as she quickly turned her head away from her friends and muttered something inaudible. 

          "What was that?" Arabella beamed, hoping to get a confession out of Lily. 

          "Nothing," Lily mumbled a little louder as she turned her head away from the group once again. 

          "That leaves only one more possibility," Sirius said with a huge grin on his face. 

          "What?" James asked, having already forgotten the list that Sirius had read off earlier. 

          "Something happened between you and Lily!" Arabella smiled. 

          "What?!" James and Lily shouted in unison. They both looked at each other and then backed off again. 

          _'I just want to shrink away and disappear. Can I do that?' _Lily thought. _'I just want to forget that I'm in the same room as Sirius and Arabella and especially James Potter because he is the sole cause of all my embarrassment.' _

"Why would you think that?" Lily suddenly asked. 

          "Lady Lily it may surprise you to find that everyone thinks that something has already happened between you two. We are just out to find the truth," Sirius explained lightly, as if he were explaining the situation to a small child. 

          "Like who?!" Lily demanded furiously. 

          "Well, Arabella and me first off," Sirius began as he tried to think of other people who he could name. 

          "That isn't nearly everyone," James pointed out angrily. 

          "From what I've heard I think so too," someone said from behind James and Lily. Both of them whipped around to face Remus Lupin grinning at them. 

          "Moony!" James exclaimed half with excitement and half with anger at the fact that his friend was going against him. 

          "Hey Prongs, Lily," Remus smiled as he went over to sit next to Sirius and Arabella on the sofa. 

          "So Arabella, Remus, and I all agree that you two have something going on that you aren't telling us," Sirius announced forcefully as if to try and make his point more plausible. 

          "Moony can't count!" James shouted at Sirius as he clenched his fists. 

          "Why not?" Remus asked calmly as he watched Lily and James' behavior during this conversation. 

          "All he really needs to see is they way you two blush whenever I make a suggestion, or imply that something happened between you two," Sirius added. 

          "That doesn't mean anything," James brushed off Sirius' proof quickly as if not to draw attention to himself. 

          "If I were to suggest to Lily that she and Remus were snogging last night, she wouldn't act any differently," Sirius laughed out. 

          Lily just rolled her eyes as she responded; "I haven't seen Remus since graduation." 

          "That doesn't mean anything! Why would Lily and Remus be snogging?!" James asked his voice rising towards the end of his question. 

          "You're right, she was probably out snogging you," Sirius laughed out as he watched James and Lily turn cherry red. 

          "We weren't!" James frantically said as he looked towards Lily to try and notice her reaction to what was going on. 

          "I was not snogging James!" Lily yelled trying to prove the point that nothing was going on between her and James. 

          "But you admit that you wanted to snog James," Sirius winked at Lily as Remus and Arabella began to laugh at the sight of Lily's confused face. 

          "When did I say that?" Lily asked. 

          "Damn," Sirius muttered underneath his breath causing Remus and Arabella to laugh harder at the conversation that was occurring. 

          "I don't think anything has happened..._yet,_" Arabella told Sirius and Remus as she held out her hand expectantly. 

          "I can't believe you two! You were supposed to say something happened!" Sirius yelled as he reached into his robe and pulled out a few coins and dropped them into Arabella's hand. 

          "You bet on us?!" Lily asked. 

          "You bet on us!" Arabella responded as Remus dropped a few coins into her outstretched hand also. 

          This caused Lily and James to shut up as they once again stood in the middle of the room embarrassed beyond belief. 

~*~

          "That's it we're leaving," Lily said as she turned around and began to head out of the door of the small coffee shop. 

          "Lily, you're overreacting," Arabella sighed as she grabbed her friend by her coat and kept her inside the coffee shop. 

          "Bella, I have no intention of going in there when James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin are sitting down having coffee," Lily breathed out angrily as she glared at her friend. 

          "You didn't have a problem with James a few weeks ago when you were attached by his side," Arabella rolled her eyes and watched Lily's face match her hair. 

          "I was never _attached_ to his side," Lily whispered out angrily, "If you weren't so busy snogging Sirius, you might've noticed that we were forced into those positions and we didn't go into them of our own free will." 

          "Well, then you shouldn't have a problem being forced into this one," Arabella said as she tried to pull Lily towards the table where the men were sitting. 

          "No!" Lily said angrily and resisting Arabella's pull on her arm. 

          "Lily, we haven't seen James, Sirius, and Remus in over a week! We should at least go and say hello," Arabella tried to reason with Lily. 

          Before Lily had a chance to respond, Sirius looked up from his coffee and a grin grew on his face as he saw Arabella and Lily standing near the door, he waved them over and Lily had no choice but to follow Arabella towards their table. 

          Arabella quickly grabbed the empty chair in-between Remus and Sirius, leaving Lily to trudge over and sit next to James and Sirius. James also looked uncomfortable at the arrangements and the two of them muttered a small hello to each other before trying to keep their eyes and bodies as far away from each other as possible. 

          "How are you two lovely ladies today?" Sirius asked after he finished watching Lily and James squirm with embarrassment of seeing each other again after the last conversation they had participated in. 

          "I'm doing fine," Arabella began with a coy smile, "Although Lily seems to be a little squirmy right now." 

          Remus tried not to laugh at Arabella and Sirius' antics at getting James and Lily to realize their feelings for each other. 

          "You know, that's funny. James seems to be getting very squirmy right now also!" Sirius exclaimed with mock excitement as he watched Lily and James become deep crimson. 

          "Where's Peter?" Lily asked in order to change the conversation away from the embarrassing direction it was headed in. 

          "He was called into work," Sirius answered thoughtfully. 

          "What does he do?" Lily asked, relieved that the conversation was not focused on her and James any longer. 

          "We don't know what it is this week," Remus answered with a small laugh as he watched Lily and James relax. 

          "Lily, you better be careful. You don't want to talk about other guys in front of Jamsie he might get jealous," Sirius said with a smile. 

          Lily sighed. _'Is it impossible for the conversation to not be centered around James and me for more than two seconds?'_

"I'm not getting jealous," James managed to choke out through his blushing. 

          "You're getting red," Remus pointed out. 

          "That could mean many things. You could either be very embarrassed, very jealous, or very angry," Sirius laughed out. 

          "I think he's embarrassed," Arabella announced as she watched James and Lily squirm under the accusation. 

          "True, we did mention something about him being in love with Lily and we know how much that embarrasses them," Sirius said, carefully watching James and Lily become even more flustered at that comment. 

          "Then again, he might just be jealous that Lily would rather hear about Peter's life than his undying love for her," Remus suggested to Arabella and Sirius. 

          "That is a possibility," Arabella agreed nodding her head, having forgotten that Lily and James were sitting at the table across from them, becoming more and more uncomfortable with each word that was spoken between their friends. 

          "Then again, he just might be angry at us for causing him to become embarrassed and jealous," Sirius added as he watched James clench his fists and his knuckles turn white. 

          "He's clenching his jaw like he does when he's angry," Remus pointed out as all eyes, except Lily's turned towards James to note how he was holding his jaw. 

          "What do you think Lily?" Arabella asked Lily, who was staring at her hands that were placed neatly on the table trying to stay out of the conversation. 

          "I think that we should drop this conversation," Lily blurted out angrily as she glanced cautiously over at James who looked very uncomfortable at the happenings. 

          "Lils," Arabella began. 

          "No, Bella, I'm sick of the way you guys are teasing me all the time and I'm sure that James is sick of it too. Why can't you guys just accept the fact that nothing is going on between us? We aren't snogging every evening. Whenever I'm not in the house I'm not automatically with James, and whenever I'm thinking about something that does not mean I am thinking about him!" Lily shouted as she got up from the table muttering, "I'm going home." 

          James followed afterwards muttering, "I'm going home also, to _my _apartment." 

~*~

**Author's Note: **Hey everyone it's me once again! I have to take the time as I do at the end of every chapter to thank my betas who help me to make this story what is it! So thank you to Brenda, Nat, and Manda you guys are the best!

Now I also always take the time to thank those who reviewed and to encourage them to review again because I love hearing your comments about the story! I can't wait!

**Midnight-Shadow: **I'm so glad that my chapters can make you laugh for so long! Laughing is good for your soul! Lol If I make you choke again don't worry I know the Heimlich Maneuver and I am very honored that I caused you to choke...I think...Lol

**Kanariya: **Thank you! ::grins:: Lol Joey has a very big mouth and he shows us more of it in this chapter...kids always have the habits of not even thinking before they say anything. I hope that this update was soon enough...I was on vacation and I've only been back a few days...I typed as fast as possible! 

**LENAk:** Lol thank you for shouting at them...but I don't know how much good it did. They get shouted at enough for it in this chapter. I shout at them too in-between writing the chapters. Thank you...and I will continue with this fic until it is finished!

**Smile28: **Thank you for the compliment about Joey. I love him! Lol kids are usually the most honest people because they can't keep their mouth shut about what they want to say the way adults do! 

**Inluvwithjames: **Thank you! I think Joey is hilarious also he's my favorite little creation! He is a very smart six year old! Six year olds are smarter than we give them credit for though! Oh! Thank you so much for that idea! I loved it so much that I used it in this chapter I hope you enjoyed that scene! I altered it just for you!

**I o u a name: **Lol thank you! James is very clueless as most men are. They can be very very dense when they find the need to be...or they just don't know that they are. Lol their thoughts are very alike...I think it's creepy too it gives me the creeps just writing them! Lol

**izzybell4life: **Thank you for the compliments on my title and my story! I love them a lot too! Lol I'm glad that my story made you laugh! I'm glad that I have enough power to do that to people! It's a good feeling! I'm also glad you are a fan of Joey! He's gained many fans! 

**Oobergoober: **Lol it is annoying that little kids can do that isn't it? It's also really funny that adults are so caught up in other things that they can't see what is right in front of them. I liked the story about your boyfriend's brother that's so cute! If I had a brother I'd beat him too if he made my kid run in the woods...Thanks!!

**Chewy: **Thank you for all the compliments in that review! I'm glad that you like how I portray my characters!! I hope that this update was soon enough...it was definitely as soon as I could get it out!

**Bell: **Thank you! And I'm glad that Joey gained yet another fan! I love him so much! Lol I love giving you shout outs! And I also love that you keep reviewing...so as long as you review I will give you a shout out...fair? 

**MeLisSa: **Lol I'm sorry for apologizing...haha there I go again. I always say I'm sorry about everything it's the most annoying habit I have and everyone always yells at me for it because 'it's not my fault' haha I'm glad you will keep reading until there is Lily and James action and I hope that you will keep reading after there is action too. Thank you for liking Joey! And I hope I updated soon!

**The Stek: **Thank you! I'm glad that you like Joey!! I'm glad that you agree about children never thinking before they speak...it's so true! I'm sorry about the wait on this chapter but I was on vacation and things are always hectic when you come back and I updated just as quickly as I could I've only been back for 3 days that's pretty good! 

**Geets: **Thank you for reviewing! I'm so honored that you reviewed my fic!! I hope you keep reading and reviewing I'd love to hear what you think about the story from you!! Thank you!!!

**NiNaPoP: **Thank you! And I'm glad that you and everyone else seems to like Joey! I love him too!!

**Mimi: **Thank you so much! I'm glad that you like Joey!! I hope I kept up the good work for you!

**Princess19: **Here is more for you! And I am very sorry to hear about Holly... that's horrible. Thank you for reviewing! 

**Sajal: **Thank you so so so much! You always leave such nice reviews! I'm sorry about the long posting date...as I explained I just started school...and during the summer I get distracted easily by my friends! I'm sorry! Thank you so much for that offer! I will remember you if I ever need help!

**Lilyclio: **I'm glad that my story entertained you enough to read that long! I'm sorry about the wait and the interruptions but they have to be done for comedy reasons! 

**ElegyStar: **Yay! I'm glad you reviewed. Thank you!!


	6. What A Brilliant Idea

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1**Summary:** Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate? 

**Disclaimer:  **People like to make jokes out of these Disclaimers. I don't think its funny. What if you forgot the disclaimer on your fanfiction? Then where would you be? You'd be in court that's where. I think these should be taken very seriously. I don't own anything except for my plot!!

**Author's Note: **Thank you all so much for being patient about this chapter...I'm sorry about the wait! I did start school and I am not very happy about that...but hey what can I do about it? Nothing! Stupid laws of our country! Haha. Anyways have fun reading this chapter I hope you enjoy it!! I hope it isn't getting _too_ cliche on you! I just had to have the events in this chapter happen for more comedy reasons. Oh I and reached 100 reviews! Yay! Parties!! Thank you so much...now we're headed for 200! Haha

**Midnight Goddess1**

.....................................................................

**Excuse Me Miss Evans**

**Chapter Six: What A Brilliant Idea**

**By: Midnight Goddess**

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          "Where is James?" Arabella asked as she stepped cautiously into Sirius' apartment and glanced around the room to see if James was anywhere near her. 

          "I haven't seen him since yesterday afternoon when he stormed out," Sirius responded as he shrugged. 

          "Lily left without saying anything this morning," Arabella sighed as she sat down in a chair at the kitchen table as Sirius pushed a cup of tea out in front of her. 

          "They are such prats!" Sirius whined as he sat down across from Arabella and rolled his eyes. 

          "They're just confused," Arabella murmured into her tea. 

          "Everything they do is so obvious!" Sirius exclaimed as he put down his cup of tea. 

          "That doesn't mean that they are going to see everything clearly," Arabella explained. 

          "Why don't they like the truth?" Sirius asked Arabella. 

          "What do you mean?" Arabella answered. 

          "Whenever we bring something up that relates to them they get defensive and angry," Sirius said as he stared at the wall, as if he was pondering one of life's great mysteries. 

  


          "They're just scared," Arabella said lightly. 

          "What do they have to be afraid of?" Sirius asked rhetorically. 

          "Many things," Arabella said, as she began to become annoyed by the way the conversation was headed. 

          "Like what? They both have feelings for each other. They don't fight anymore," Sirius began listing before Arabella cut him off. 

          "That's what they are afraid of," Arabella explained. 

          "Why?" Sirius asked as he sank down defeated. 

          "They realized that their feelings have changed. They have strong feelings for each other and that frightens them because they've never felt this way about anyone before. It's even stranger because last time they saw each other, before this happened, they hated each other. They're just startled by how quickly their emotions changed," Arabella breathed out. 

          "How do you know that?" Sirius demanded. 

          "I can read Lily and James like a book. They wear their emotions right out where everyone can see them," Arabella answered quickly. 

          "They're never going to get together if we expect them to realize what is going on by themselves," Sirius complained. 

          "They'll come around," Arabella said as she stirred her tea. 

          "We need to do something to force them to see what they are avoiding and finally do something about it," Sirius said. 

          "What a brilliant idea!" Arabella shouted as she jumped up from her chair almost knocking it over. 

          "What?" Sirius asked timidly. 

          "We can get Lily and James to realize what they are feeling!" Arabella exclaimed happily. 

          "How do you plan on doing that?" Sirius asked skeptically. 

          "Haven't you ever played match-maker?" Arabella asked sarcastically. 

          "No!" Sirius yelled so loudly that it echoed off of the kitchen walls. 

          "Well, since you are that against the idea we will just have to wait until they get dizzy from all the circles they are dancing around each other," Arabella suggested. 

          "We're just going to let them act like this forever?" Sirius questioned slightly worried. 

          "You don't seem to want to do anything about it," Arabella said with a gleam in her eye. 

          "I never said that! James really needs to come out of Lily-land where he has been living the past few weeks," Sirius said urgently. 

          "We are going to need a plan," Arabella began with a smirk appearing on her face as Sirius leaned in closer to pay attention. 

~*~

          "Why won't you come?" Arabella whined to Lily's closed door as she took out her wand. 

          "Don't even try to hex your way into here," Lily commanded from inside the room. 

          "What is it that you are so afraid of?" Arabella asked as she tried to mask the teasing in her voice. 

          _'Why does she need to know everything? Why can't I just live my life?' _Lily wondered. 

          "I do not enjoy when James and I are teased as if we have emotional feelings for each other that do not exist. To tell you the truth, it makes things quite awkward," Lily shouted with a muffled voice. 

          _'Awkward has to be an understatement. It makes things to unbearable that I can't breathe! I don't think there are words to describe the sudden flashes of terror that fill me when they bring up anything that relates to that topic.' _

          "Have you ever thought about why the teasing makes you two awkward?" Arabella asked, before she realized that this comment was uncalled for. 

          _'How can she even doubt the idea that I've thought of it, of course I have thought of it. I think about it all the time. It's all I think about. It controls my mind. Not that I would ever admit that I think about James.' _Lily screamed in her mind. 

          "Have you ever thought about how much I hate it?" Lily screamed as Arabella heard a pillow fly across the room. 

          "You may hate the teasing but you know that there is truth behind every word that is spoken," Arabella said calmly. 

          _'What is there truth to?' _Lily smirked as she thought those words. 

          "There is no truth to anything that you say," Lily said harshly as she apparently stopped throwing items across the room. 

          "You know that there is and that is what makes you so mad," Arabella insisted. 

          "There is no truth to anything! I am not out snogging James and I do not think about him all the time!" Lily shouted through the door lividly. 

          "You may not be out snogging James and when you are lost in your thoughts you may not be thinking about him but I know that you feel something when you're with him," Arabella explained as calmly as she could. 

          _'Arabella is the last person who could tell me exactly how I feel. Every single person on this earth is the last person. I am the only person who knows exactly how I feel and exactly how I think.' _

          "You will never know exactly how I feel!" Lily scoffed as she moved away from the door. 

          "You must be forgetting that I know what it's like to care about someone like you do. I can see how your face brightens when you see him and I can see how you smile when he looks your way. Everyone can see that. That is why everyone assumes what they do," Arabella explained. 

          _'That can't be true. My face doesn't brighten when I see him! I don't smile when he looks at me!' _Lily tried to convince herself in her mind, failing terribly. 

          "I do not have feelings for him," Lily insisted from behind the door. 

          "You can try and make your mind believe what you want it to believe, but your heart will never listen, and your heart will betray what you want everyone else to see," Arabella warned. 

          _'I don't pretend. I live reality. The reality is that I don't have feelings for James!' _Lily insisted. 

          "What is that supposed to mean?" Lily asked as her door flew open barely missing Arabella's nose. 

          "It means that you will eventually wake up and realize what you have been thinking this entire time was wrong," Arabella answered. 

          "You make me so angry!" Lily shouted, not directly at Arabella but more into the open space that occupied her room. 

          "It's not me that you hate, it's not Sirius, Remus, or anyone else who thinks that you two are or should be a couple. It's your own feelings that you hate," Arabella accused as she sat down on the bed. 

          _'Maybe it's just me. Maybe I hate myself for allowing me to think about this all the time. Maybe I just can't stand myself because I allow myself to become angry with the jokes and the sarcasm!' _

          "I don't want to go to the dinner," Lily said flatly as she tried to leave the room. 

          "You just don't want Sirius or me to realize how you really feel. What you are really afraid of is James discovering your feelings. What would happen if James didn't feel the same way? It's much easier to try and stay level headed through the whole thing than have your heart shattered into millions of tiny pieces," Arabella said, causing Lily to stop dead in her tracks. 

          _'Why does she have to try so hard? Why does she have to be almost right? Why do I let her be right?!' _Lily asked herself. 

          "I'm not going," Lily commanded; her voice was beginning to shake. 

          "Yes, you are," Arabella insisted as she pulled Lily towards the middle of her room. 

          "I am not!" Lily shrieked. 

          "Be ready in thirty minutes," Arabella said as she closed the door, then quickly reopened it, "and try and look civil."

          "What do you mean by that?" Lily questioned her eyes glinting. 

          "You might want to look good for Jamsie," Arabella shrugged with a slight wince on her face anticipating Lily's fiery temper. 

          _'I hate the jokes!' _

          Instead, Lily slammed the door and began to throw robes across the room as Arabella stood outside the door with a stunned look on her face. 

~*~

          "Jamsie you need to come out of there now or we are going to be late," Sirius called as he knocked on the bathroom door. 

          "I can't go," James responded shakily as the door remained locked. 

          "You can't say that now!" Sirius exclaimed angrily as he paced back and forth outside the door. 

          "Obviously I am," James sarcastically replied. 

          "Why can't you go?" Sirius asked with an exasperated voice. 

          "I'm having a bad hair day," James replied softly. 

          "James, you are always having a bad hair day. It's no use trying," Sirius responded quickly as he tried to open the door. 

          "That's not what I mean," James answered slowly as if he were choking the words out. 

          "What is it then?" Sirius asked annoyed. 

          "I would rather not say," James answered quickly. 

          "James, you better come out of there right now," Sirius commanded, as a mother would do to a child. 

          "What are you going to do to me?" James asked with an obvious tone of sarcasm in his voice. 

          "Do you really want to hear the entire list?" Sirius asked. 

          "My spell backfired," James said as he opened the door to reveal himself. Although, now James' normally midnight black hair was a mass of electric pink. 

          "What spell were you using?" Sirius managed to laugh out. 

          "Nothing," James replied quickly, as if to brush off the conversation. 

          "Were you trying to gel your hair?" Sirius asked as his mouth turned upwards into a smile. 

          "Why would I be doing that?" James asked as he fidgeted his feet. 

          "Maybe because you finally found out that Lily was coming with us," Sirius shrugged as he turned to leave before James' anger boiled. 

          "What?!" James screamed. 

          "Oh, well maybe that wasn't it," Sirius mumbled as he tried once again to leave the room. 

          "When did this happen?" James asked as he advanced towards Sirius. 

          "Er, around the time the plans were made," Sirius winced. 

          "My hair is pink," James said in a deadpan voice. 

          "You know I've heard that women find pink hair incredibly attractive on wizards," Sirius told James as his eyes twinkled. 

          "Where in hell did you read that?" James asked angrily. 

          "Er, I can't exactly remember," Sirius said as he backed away. 

          "What am I supposed to do?" James asked furiously. 

          "Change your hair back," Sirius answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

          James didn't even answer but glared at Sirius and flicked his wand. Instantly his hair was restored to its original color and without another word the two men apparated out of the apartment. 

~*~

          "Four?" The hostess questioned as Arabella, Lily, James, and Sirius entered the small restaurant. 

          "Yes," Sirius responded quickly before anyone could say anything else. 

          "It will be about ten minutes," The hostess replied as she smiled sweetly at the group. She handed over a buzzer and Lily reached out and grabbed it being the only muggle-born in the group.

          "What is that thing?" Sirius asked quickly, and softly after the hostess had left to seat another group. 

          "It's just to let us know when our table is ready," Lily replied as she sat down on a bench. 

          "Lily Evans?" a voice questioned as the door opened and three young men walked into the room, all of their eyes turned on Lily. 

          James turned his hazel eyes on the three men that had addressed Lily. The three of them had a similar tall build. The three of them had identical eyes and their hair were various shades of blonde.

          _'Why are they talking to Lily? How do they know Lily? What gives them the right to talk to her? Why is the middle one looking at her like that?' _James asked himself as he stood up out of his chair and began to walk over towards Lily. 

          "Who is this?" the middle man asked defensively as he moved closer towards Lily, which caused James to clench his fists. 

          "This is James," Lily responded happily as she smiled. 

          "How do you know him?" the man in the middle asked Lily. 

          "We went to school together," Lily answered clearly getting annoyed by his questions. 

          "What are you doing now?" The man in the middle asked. 

          Lily ignored his question and turned to James and explained, "This is Mark, and the two in the back are Greg and Aaron. We used to be next door neighbors." 

          James nodded his head slightly as he glanced over Mark questioningly. 

          "Lily we haven't seen each other in years how would you like to come over tomorrow evening. Greg and Aaron are going out and we could catch up," Mark asked as he took a step closer towards Lily, who then took a step closer to James. 

          "Mark, I'm sorry, but I have plans tomorrow," Lily responded somewhat shakily. 

          "How about another evening?" Mark asked as his eyes pierced into Lily's. 

          _'Mark likes Lily. He likes Lily. Lily doesn't seem to like him. But he likes her. What is she going to do? What am I going to do?' _James thought. 

          "Maybe you misunderstood," Lily said quickly as her eyes lit up with an idea. 

          "Misunderstood what?" Mark asked as he took another step towards Lily as if he was trying to entrance her. 

          "This is James, my boyfriend," Lily beamed. 

          James dropped the buzzer and it clatter on the floor.

          _'What did she just say?'_

 Lily bent over to pick it up and handed it back to James. Their fingers brushed and they quickly looked at each other and then tore their eyes away. 

          "Excuse me?" Mark asked slowly as he observed Lily and James' odd behavior. 

          "We've been dating for the past year," Lily smiled happily. 

          "I'm sorry I wasn't aware," Mark managed to saw as he reached his hand out to shake James'. 

          "It's been a while," Lily responded shakily as she reached out to grab James' hand when she realized that Mark was studying them. 

          "Are you two okay?" Mark finally asked. 

          "Fine," James said. 

          "Wonderful," Lily said. 

          "You just seem edgy," Mark added. 

          "We're fine," Lily assured as she took a step closer to James. 

          "Everything's normal," James added as he watched Lily out of the corner of his eye. 

          "Nothing's wrong," Lily responded quickly after James. 

          It was that moment that the buzzer decided to go off causing James to drop it once again on the floor in shock of what was happening. Lily bent down to pick it up as a young couple walked in through the door. They tripped over Lily, crashed into James, and pretty soon the four of them were sprawled out on the floor. 

          Arabella and Sirius showed up with huge smiles on their faces as they helped Lily and James and the other couple to their feet. The buzzer was still vibrating and Lily picked it up and the four of them walked to the counter without another word. 

          "Have fun on your date!" Mark shouted to their backs. 

          _'He just blew everything. Now James and I are going to be miserable. Why did I do that?!' _Lily complained. 

          "Is there something you want to tell us?" Arabella asked with a smirk. 

          "Long story," Lily said and pushed around James and sunk down at the table. 

~*~

          "Where is our waitress?" Arabella finally sighed as she set down the menu. 

          "We've been waiting forever!" Sirius complained as he also put his menu down and rolled his eyes. 

          "Hi, I'm Sherry and I will be your waitress this evening," A slim brunette appeared behind James.

          "Hello," Lily weakly replied. 

          "I'm sorry about the wait," Sherry said somewhat sincerely. 

          "It's okay," James answered as he looked up from his menu, in which he had been hiding his blushing face. 

          "How are you?" Sherry asked James as she knelt down to the level of the table and began to look James over. 

          _'What is she doing?' _Lily thought hurriedly. _'Why is James letting her look at him like that? Doesn't he realize what is going on?'_

          "I'm fine," James replied as he glanced down at his menu and rolled his eyes at Lily. 

          Lily smiled at his gesture and said, "I'm going have a water." 

          The rest of the table ordered their drinks and with one final glance at James Sherry left to go put their orders in. 

          "Thank you," James breathed once Sherry had left the table. 

          "You helped me earlier," Lily smiled back. 

          At this point in the conversation Sherry returned with the drinks and set them down on the table. Stepping between James and Lily and placing the drinks around the table unsteadily because of her frequent glances in James' direction. 

          "I think someone has a crush on you Jamsie," Sirius teased after Sherry had left the table. 

          "For the last time I don't like James!" Lily exclaimed, without moving her narrowed eyes from Sherry's retreating form. 

          "Sorry Lils," Sirius said as he bit back the urge to laugh. 

          After a while, which was filled with the idle chatter of a usual awkward dinner party, Sherry arrived with the food. She had brought another glass of water with her, which she casually knocked over onto Lily. 

          "Oh!" Lily shrieked as she stood up because of the sudden coldness of the water that had splashed over her. As she stood up she knocked over her chair, which fell with a clang on the floor causing the entire restaurant to turn and look in their direction. 

          Sherry who had been moving quickly away from Lily's direction tripped over the chair and spilled an entire salad onto James' head. James in turn just flopped his head onto the table in embarrassment until the rest of the diners had found the excitement to have simmered and they returned back to their meals. 

          "I'm so sorry!" Sherry shrieked as she moved over towards James in attempt to help clean up the salad she had spilled on him. 

          "Why don't you just bring out another one," James suggested as he moved out of her reach. Sherry agreed and went back to receive another salad. 

          "Nice hair, Jamsie," Sirius laughed out. James' hair was not only messy as usual, but it also contained salad dressing and vegetables sticking up in odd directions also. Lily laughed slightly at the sight of James as she reached up to take out a tomato slice out of his hair.

          "Here's the salad," Sherry responded crossly as she broke up Lily and James' moment. Lily and James backed away from each other as usual and returned to their meals without another word spoken to each other. 

          "May we have the check please?" Lily asked politely as Sherry walked by. Sherry reluctantly brought the check to the table and as Lily reached into her purse her eyes grew wide. 

          "What's wrong?" Arabella asked as she watched Lily's frightened expression. 

          "I forgot to bring muggle money with me," Lily frantically whispered so that no one else in the restaurant would hear. 

          "Just transfigure it," James whispered to Lily.

          "We can't just do it in front of muggles," Lily whispered back angrily. 

          "How many people do you think are going to see?" Sirius asked in an annoyed voice. 

          At that moment Sherry arrived to refill Lily's water glass. The table at once grew silent and once she had left they let out a deep breath. 

          "Go to the bathroom," Arabella suggested as she handed Lily a handful of wizard coins. 

          "I can't remember how to do it," Lily replied 

          "Have James go with you," Arabella said casually. 

          "Why me?!" James shouted above the noisy clattering of the forks on the table. 

          "You were the top student in Transfiguration," Sirius said as he rolled his eyes. 

          James and Lily finally reluctantly got out of their seats and made their way through the tables towards the bathroom. 

          "You do know one of them will have to be in the wrong bathroom," Arabella added as she turned towards Sirius with a smirk on her face. 

~*~

          "Which room?" Lily asked as she stopped dead in her tracks in the hallway between the two doors. 

          "What?" James gulped as he looked uncertainly between the two doors. 

          "We can't transfigure the coins in front of muggles," Lily insisted. 

          "Men's," James said without a pause. 

          "Why the men's?" Lily asked angrily. 

          "I'm not going into the women's," James complained. 

          "Well I don't want to go in the men's," Lily said. 

          "There are less guys," James explained as he grabbled Lily's arm and with a final look around he peeked into the bathroom and pulled her quickly in. 

          "We should go in a stall," Lily said as she glanced around the bathroom with a frightened look. 

          James threw the door open of the first stall they came to and pulled Lily quickly inside with him, locking the door. 

          "You need to stand on the seat," James said. 

          "What?" Lily shrieked. 

          "Quiet," James whispered. 

          "Why do I need to stand on the seat?" Lily whispered harshly. 

          "There aren't usually four feet in one stall," James said as he rolled his eyes. 

          "Why can't you stand?" Lily asked with her eyebrows raised. 

          "You have very...feminine shoes on," James gulped as he glanced down at Lily's high heeled sandals.

          Lily looked down and with a smile she hopped up on the toilet seat. She looked uneasily around the tiny stall that she was in with James and became quite flushed. 

          "Here are the coins," Lily said as she handed them over to James. 

          James easily transfigured them with a flick of his wand, which he quickly placed back into his pocket, and handed over the muggle money to Lily. 

          "We should go out now," James said as he paused, as if waiting for Lily to respond. 

          "Probably," Lily responded as she gently stepped off of the seat causing her to brush up against James. 

          "Sirius and Arabella will wonder what happened to us," James explained as he reached backwards to unlock the door. 

          "Anyone could walk in," Lily added as she instinctively leaned in placing her hand on James' shoulder and causing him to bump into the door sending it flying open as another man entered the door of the bathroom. 

          "Lily?" the man asked as he turned the door around to make sure he was in the correct bathroom. 

          "Mark!" Lily exclaimed out of fright as she looked back and forth between James and Mark with a face as red as the setting sun. 

          "Hello Mark," James added, his face equally as red as Lily's. 

          "We were—you see—I mean—James and I," Lily tried to explain but her words kept getting caught in her throat. 

          "What Lily means to say is—what we want to say—well," James also tried to explain, but unfortunately he was also at a loss of words. 

          "Please don't explain," Mark said as he looked at James through narrowed eyes. 

          "We'll be going then," Lily said as she dragged James out of the bathroom and back to their table awkwardly. 

          As they approached the table, Lily and James became aware of their faces turning brighter and brighter with the embarrassment and the memory of the event that had just unfolded. 

          "Did you change the coins?" Arabella asked with a smirk as if she had expected them to have forgotten the task altogether. 

          "That is why we left," Lily replied angrily as she plopped down in her chair immediately, inching away from James' lingering gaze. 

          "What's going on?" Sirius asked as his eyes darted between Lily and James expectantly. 

          "Nothing!" Lily and James exclaimed in unison quickly. 

          "Then why are you avoiding each other?" Arabella asked. 

          "I'm not avoiding him," Lily shot at Arabella as she quickly converted her eyes from James' to the white tablecloth. 

          "Can't you two just sort everything out?" Sirius asked with a suggestive wink thrown in James' direction. 

          "We have always had our differences. Why are you trying to change that now?" Lily asked angrily as she dropped her purse with a clatter on the tile floor. James bent down to pick it up for her and set it lightly on the table and drew his hands away quickly, to avoid any unnecessary contact with Lily. 

          "You two seemed to have pushed those differences aside quite quickly," Arabella responded innocently with her eyebrows raised in Lily's direction. 

          "For a day or two," Lily mumbled as she tried desperately to create a plausible excuse. 

          "Just tell us what happened!" Arabella exclaimed. 

          "When did you snog?" Sirius asked at the same time as Arabella cracked a smile. 

          "What?!" James exclaimed as he nervously glanced around the restaurant as if he was afraid someone was watching him. By switching his eyes back to the table he noticed that Lily's bright green eyes were locked on his figure with a somewhat wanting manner. 

          "Just drop it," Lily pleaded as she tore her eyes away from James' paranoid ones. 

          "This is a subject that will not be dropped," Arabella sternly announced. 

          "Yes, it will be dropped," Lily commanded, her green eyes flashing with bottled up anger waiting to explode and shatter the glass orb it had been contained in for so long. 

          "Not until you and James stop acting like idiots and are at least civil towards once another again," Arabella reasoned. 

          "Why is it so hard for you to grasp the fact that James and I cannot hold a civil conversation every minute of the day that you force us to spend together?" Lily questioned as her eyes began to fill with tears of frustration and anger. 

          "That's not what we want," Sirius cut in. 

          "Well, you two might be surprised to find out that you don't know anything about what I think to the extent that you think you do," Lily blurted out as she wiped a lone tear away from her eyelashes. 

          "We may not know what you are thinking but we know that something is going on!" Arabella announced, quite loudly as the restaurant seemed to fall into a hush and look in their direction, before returning quite quickly to their previous conversations. 

          "Is it so hard for you to let Lily and I live our lives the way that we want to?" James asked as he looked mournfully in Lily's direction, where tears were falling down freely from her eyes. 

          "We will let you live your own lives when you two realize that this _is _what you want," Arabella explained as she shot a sensitive look to Lily. 

          "You need to stop forcing us into positions we aren't comfortable with!" Lily shouted as she finally was able to gain enough strength to tear her eyes away from Arabella's strong questioning ones and stand up. 

          "Lily," Arabella warned softly as she glanced nervously around the restaurant, sighing after noticing that every table was focused intently on their meal, at least attempting to ignore the outburst. Lily tossed her napkin down on the floor and with a quick pace walked out of the restaurant. Sirius, Arabella, and James watched as the swinging doors came to a halt. 

          "Can you please tell me what just happened?" Arabella asked Sirius as she finally let out a deep breath she had been holding captive within her lungs. 

          "Lily needs to learn to control her temper," Sirius smirked as he glanced at James who was glaring in his direction. 

          James didn't respond to their comments but instead, followed Lily's example and tossed his napkin down on the table and stood up without a word, leaving Arabella and Sirius with stunned expressions on their faces. 

          James felt the cool air blow upon his face and kiss his hair as he stepped outside into true freedom away from the controls that were kept over his every move. He spotted Lily standing on the top step with her head leaned up against the railing. As the moon moved out from behind a cloud he could clearly make out the exact trail that each tear had left shimmering upon her cheeks. 

          "Lily?" James asked tentatively. 

          "What?" Lily sighed out as she dangled her feet onto the next step and glance down the tall flight of stairs she was standing at the top of. 

          "Don't let them get to you," James tried to console as he sat down next to Lily on the brick step, perhaps a little closer than anyone normally would have considered doing. 

          Lily did not reply but instead looked up at James with an annoyed look dancing in her tear filled eyes as she promptly lowered her eyes once again to the flight of stairs. 

          "You're strong enough to realize that no matter what they say what you feel is true," James explained softly as i it took every fiber of his being to push those words out of his mouth. 

          Lily opened her mouth to respond but apparently thought better of herself and instead pleaded, using her eyes for James to stop. 

          "You are the one with the ultimate say," James said as he began to get up and return to the table where Sirius and Arabella would be waiting for him with more teases waiting to jump off of their tongues. Just as he was straightening his legs Lily's small hand reached out and landed on James' causing him to stay put. 

  


          "James," Lily murmured but once again closed her mouth as if she were afraid of the words that invaded her mouth. 

          "If you don't say something nothing will ever happen," James explained to Lily with a smile as he sat back down next to her on the step. 

          "What if what I want to say frightens me?" Lily asked as she quickly turned her head away, too frightened to see the surprised, but yet ecstatic look upon James' face. 

          "Why does it frighten you?" James asked shakily as he contemplated on what action he should take. 

          "I'm not sure," Lily admitted. 

          "You must know what part haunts you," James insisted, his voice wavering slightly. 

          "Haven't you ever been worried or afraid of something and not had the slightest idea of what is causing you to become so shaky and nervous?" Lily questioned with a lost look written upon her face. 

          "Not entirely," James responded. 

          "What do you mean '_not entirely'_? Lily asked as she narrowed her eyes. 

          "Somewhere in the back of your mind you are completely aware of just what is causing you to become frightened. You're just too frightened to look and see what it is," James explained as he too dropped his feet and allowed them to dangle over the step. 

          "I just can't find what it is!" Lily exclaimed loudly, above the gentle lulling of the crickets in the bushes nearby. 

          "You know what it is," James accused as he watched Lily fidget her foot underneath the moonlight that was streaming down through the leaves of the trees. 

          "I really don't know!" Lily pleaded as she stood up and ran her fingers shakily through her hair. 

          "You don't need to tell me," James said.

          "What?" Lily asked, confused. 

          "I just want you to realize what it is so maybe you can take control of your emotions and create the world that you want to live in," James explained as he turned to begin walking away. 

          Although as James walked away Lily was continuing to pace and she tripped over his leg and began to tumble down the flight of stairs that she had been sitting on. James looked down with a frightened expression of guilt and fear as he bolted down the stairs after Lily and met her at the bottom as he crouched down next to her limp form. 

          "Are you okay?" James asked as he pushed her vibrant red hair out of her closed eyes. 

          "I'm fine," Lily insisted as she sat up slowly and began to stand until she lost her footing and fell straight into James' arms. 

          "Let's get you back inside," James whispered as he began to help her walk up the flight of stairs. 

          Sirius and Arabella quickly turned around to head back inside as if they were just leaving.

          "They're taking so long," Sirius complained. 

          "Just give them time. All they need is time," Arabella smiled as she watched them limp up the stairs together, hand in hand. 

~*~

          "How is your leg feeling?" Arabella asked as she removed a shopping bag from Lily's arms and preceded to watch Lily walk around without the limp that she had been using for the past few days. 

          "I told you I'm fine!" Lily exclaimed as she continued to walk away from Arabella. 

          "I just wanted to make sure," Arabella said with concern as she kept a tight clutch on Lily's bag. 

          "Don't be so concerned about me. I can live my own life," Lily said, as a sudden flash of independence filled her eyes. Just as quickly as it had come, it disappeared leaving Arabella wondering if it had ever really existed at all. 

          "What exactly happened?" Arabella finally worked up the courage to ask, as Lily was finally truly calm and relaxed since the indent that had occurred a week ago. 

          "Do you ever let anything drop?" Lily questioned, still in a good-natured tone, but completely skipping the question as she walked on. 

          "Would you like to look in here?" Lily questioned pointing to a small store tucked away. 

          "Lily," Arabella warned. 

          "Yes," Lily asked innocently as she began to pull the door of the shop open. 

          "Stop avoiding the subject!" Arabella shouted. 

          "Stop prying into my life!" Lily said lightly as she turned around sending her bright red hair spinning around and catching the rays of the sunlight. Her hair sent rays of golden light across the sky and Arabella couldn't help but smile. 

          "Why won't you let anybody realize what goes in inside of you?" Arabella questioned lightly as she tapped Lily's shoulder as if she were afraid of a bite. 

          Lily sighed but instead turned away and began walking in the opposite direction. She closed her emerald green eyes off from the world and listened as her mind went spinning in directions and angles that only exist without time or space. 

          _'I can't let anyone inside of me. I can't let anyone realize what I really think or feel. It's dangerous to trust someone with your soul. Possessions are only possessions. They can be remade, bought, or even fixed. If your soul shatters than it can never be repaired completely. It will always have a tiny sliver of the shadow missing and it will always be fragile and shaky.' _Lily reasoned as she shook her head with anger at what Arabella wanted her to risk. 

          She began lightly bumping into people and she smiled as she realized what she must appear to look like. Her hair swinging behind her gleaming in the light and her eyes clenched tightly with a look of anger and frustration on her face. 

          Then she felt the hard brick that belonged to the ground she had been skipping across only moments before. The light-headed feeling that comes when you fall began to fill her senses and she opened her eyes and squinted in the sunlight. 

          "What a surprise to see you here!" Sirius exclaimed as he bounced over to where Lily and James were now standing trying to back away from each other awkwardly. 

          "I need to go," Lily mumbled as she turned around, right smack into an older witch, who kept her balance, whereas Lily fell once again. 

          "Sometimes I have to think that the younger generation has become blind," the witch scolded Lily as she waved her finger and walked away without helping Lily to her feet. 

~*~

**Author's Note: **There you go I hope that you all enjoy the chapter! I have to thank my wonderfully amazing betas who help me so much! So thank you Brenda, Natalie, and Amanda! You guys are wonderful!

I also have to thank everyone who reviewed and everyone who I know will review in this chapter! You guys motivate me to keep writing and help me to keep trying to make every chapter better than the one before!

**TheStek: **Yay! I'm glad that you enjoyed that chapter! I didn't blame them for becoming angry in that chapter either. They get more and more fed up with their friends in this chapter also...don't worry...it will all be resolved eventually. Oh and what fun would it be if they weren't stubborn? Answer that! Haha. Thanks for reviewing!!

**Hermione101888: **Thank you for reviewing!! I'm sorry that you are in the same position as her. Do you like a guy and your friends tease you because you do? 

**Donzabobo: **Thank you so much for the nice review! There isn't much fluffiness in this chapter but hey, there's comedy! Hopefully you'll find it funny!! 

**elvencherry07: **Thank you for reviewing. I'm sorry about the long wait for the update. I just don't have much time to write and then once I get it off to my betas they don't have that much time to check it quickly. Then when I get it back I don't have time to make corrections and then I don't have much time to post...haha then it starts all over again!! Sorry!

**Smile28: **I agree they are very thick! But if they were so quick would it be fun? No way! I hope this chapter keeps up the trend and is even funnier! Sorry about the wait for the update!

**midnights shadow of insaneness: **haha! Thank you for that very amusing review! I'm glad that my chapter made you laugh...well hopefully it was a good kind of laughing. If it was I'm honored!!

**chewy1: **Thank you so so so so much! I'm so sorry about the long wait for the update but I hope it satisfied you!!

**NiNaPoP: **Thank you so much! You might have a while to wait until they confess their undying love but we all know that it is coming. So I hope you will keep reading until then! I'm glad you like my story and Joey! I love Joey so much. I'm so glad that everyone else does too!

**cara-meLisSa: **Thank you for the review! I'm glad that you'll read my fanfic after Lily and James kiss because the drama won't be over after that! They will still have troubles in their life! Again, I'm glad that you like Joey! I'm also glad that you are happy I brought in Remus! He's so awesome! I'm not fond of Peter either but who is? He has to be in there somewhere after all he was very important in the books! Sorry about the wait for the update!

**ElegyStar: **I rather like reading stories with longer chapters which is why I write them that way! Plus it helps with the fact that I can't update very often. 

**bibby10: **Thank you! I'm glad that you read my other stories! I hope to hear from you more in reviews for all of my stories! I love hearing your opinions! Sorry about the update being late!

**izzybell4life: **I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter and that you found it funny! Don't be worried that's my goal! Trust me it's tough getting teased...it's even rougher when you know you don't actually like the guy. Trust me I know! I'm sure all my characters are proud of themselves at the moment...and I'm sure once something finally happens they will be even happier. I'd tell you how many chapters but then where would the suspense be? 

**LENAk: **Joey is there to make everyone smile! He's so annoying that he's cute. Or at least that's my opinion of him! Of course they won't ever find an end! That would be no fun! I'm so glad you love this fic and I'm so happy you reviewed!

**Lily Kat: **You must know that the fic would be nowhere nearly as fun if they had kissed already! The waiting is all part of the fun! Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you love the story! 

**EbonyQuill: **Joey is a genius! Not really, Lily and James are just being a tiny bit dense. I'm so glad the story made you laugh! That was it's purpose! Thank you so much for the review! I'm so honored that you think that my story is going to be a classic! I've always wanted to write a classic fanfiction! 

**bebe-chrissy: **Thank you for reviewing. I'm sorry about dragging it out but it's supposed to be comedic and if they had confessed their feelings to each other already there would be not much left to the story! Just keep waiting it will happen eventually! Hope you keep reading!

**Takako: **I love Remus too! I'll be sure to add Remus more in other chapters he just didn't have much of a place for a role in this chapter...although he was mentioned a few times I believe...I can't really remember. Thank you so much for the great review! I think Joey is damn cool also! I can't wait to hear from you again! 

**Victoria: **I'm so happy you were able to review! Thanks so much for reviewing! I miss you being one of my betas but I hope that you keep reading and if you ever have time to beta again just tell me and I'd love to work with you again! Keep in touch!

**Tribal Leader: **wow! Thanks so much for the wonderful review!  I believe there are going to be about 17 chapters in this story and after that I think I will just end it instead of writing a sequel unless a muse jumps out and gives me an extraordinary idea. Thank you for the compliments! I hope you enjoy my other fictions just as much! I love them all! Thank you for adding me on your favorites lists!

**padfoot luvr 134: **Thank you! I love Joey and I'm glad you enjoy Joey also! Don't worry I will keep writing until the story is completed!

**Kellie: **I'm glad you liked chapters 4 and 5! I missed your review for chapter 4 but I'm glad you reviewed on chapter 5! I love hearing from you! I love Joey too! I'm so glad most people seem to love him! I'm sorry about the wait for the update but I just didn't have enough time!

**ICE: **Here is the next chapter! I'm so sorry about the long update but I don't have that much time to write at the moment with school and dance and sports and all that junk. I barely have enough time to sleep!! 

**Kanariya: **Thank you for reviewing! Lily and James' friends are quite pushy but the story wouldn't be as exciting if they weren't that way. Many friends tend to be pushy about their friends' love lives. Or at least mine do! Thank you!!

**emily63: **Thank you so much for reviewing! I hope you review again!

**tim_tam_monster: **I hope I'm a kind enough author I do update! I just don't have a lot of time to update so I don't usually do it quickly. Don't worry I will finish the story and I won't just quit on you! 

**sports-girl: **Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm glad that my story is original I try to make most of my stories original! I'm glad you like Joey! He's so popular I'm so happy! Sorry about the wait for this chapter! 

**Geets: **I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to update fast! I just don't have enough time with school and everything! I'm sorry please don't hate me! Lol!

**Islandgirl: **Thank you so much. Once again I am sorry about the wait but I don't have that much time to update right now! 

**lilblondie2182: **Thank you so much for the nice review! I'm so honored to have written the best fanfic you have ever read! I'm sorry that I don't have much time to update at the moment but I promise that I will continue to update even though it might be a while before I have time. 

**Mep1: **Thanks for reviewing. I'm sorry about the wait but I barely have any time to update and I have 4 other fics to update and an original fiction that I am writing. So just stay with me and hold on because I will eventually get the next chappie out...


	7. Please Don't Say That

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1**Summary:** Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate?

**Disclaimer: **Trust me this is just my hobby. I needed something to do while I was getting sued for using characters that aren't mine. They all belong to J.K.R!!

**Author's Note: **Hey everyone! Thanks for waiting once again! I know it's hard but school takes up all of my free time and I finally have a day off. ::sighs:: I know the weekends I don't have school but trust me with all the homework, basketball (yeah now it's changed from badminton to basketball) and community service I get I might as well. Hopefully this chapter will keep you laughing as hard as the others have been in the past. That's my goal! This chapter should add a little more substance to James and Lily's relationship than before. A whole other side of the plot begins to unfold. Could this be the chapter where some action begins? You'll just have to read and see now won't you! 

**Midnightgoddess1**

.....................................................................

**Excuse Me Miss Evans**

**Chapter Seven: Please Don't Say That**

**By: Midnight Goddess**

.....................................................................

          "Miss Evans!" a healer shouted as she burst in through the door to Lily's office. She gently pushed her black hair out of her eyes as she took a deep sigh at the sight of Lily sitting at her desk. 

          "Yes?" Lily asked; although she remained calm and collected in her response. Her eyes showed inner turmoil at the sudden announcement that was about to be spoken.

          "They need you—attack—training center—death eaters—now!" the young witch managed to fumble out as she wrung her hands nervously on her white robes, as if she were terribly frightened of Lily's reaction. 

          "What?!" Lily shrieked as she stood up from her desk, in the process managing to knock over her chair. The chair clattered onto the floor and the echoes bounced silently off the walls. 

          _'There is no way! I must have heard wrong. I need to get my ears checked. Why would they check the Auror training center? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't match up. How could they even find it? It has such high protection. What if he's hurt? What would I do?' _Lily thought frantically. 

          "There was an attack at the Auror Training Center," the witch repeated with a clearer voice as she fixed her posture and looked Lily straight in her eyes trying to mask her excitement and worry. 

          Lily's papers fell straight out of her hands as she finally comprehended the words that the younger witch had spoken. She bent down to pick them up as she asked, "Are you sure?"

          _'She's going to say no. She's going to say she didn't mean that. She's going to name another place and I'm going to go help save wizards and witches and I won't have to worry about him being there. I won't have to worry about him being hurt.' _Lily pleaded with herself. 

          "They need you down there," the young witch breathed out as she stood up straighter and tried to appear calm and responsible.

          "At the training center?" Lily asked as if she didn't want it to be true. 

          "Yes," the witch replied warily as she turned to leave the room. 

          "You're positive?" Lily asked once again as she leaped forward and grabbed the woman's arm hesitantly. 

          _'She has to say no. She has to say no. She has to say no.' _Lily thought as she began to shake slightly. 

          "Yes," the witch replied as she looked at Lily strangely. 

          _'I can't believe this! I have to go find him! I have to go make sure that he's not hurt! He has to be okay he can't die on me.' _Lily thought. 

          "Have there been any deaths?" Lily asked frantically. 

          "Unfortunately there were quite a few," the healer mumbled sadly. 

          _'This can't be happening!' _Lily screamed in her mind. 

          "I have to get down there!" Lily shouted as she pushed past the healer and flew out the door instantly apparating in the hallway leaving her papers scattered across the floor and the witch standing in the middle of them staring blankly at the stop where Lily was last seen.

~*~

          Lily instantly appeared in the middle of a large field. The once green grass appeared scorched and painted black as smoke rose from the end of each individual blade. The gray smoke swirled around and danced throughout the sky where a large green skull was painted.

          _'It's horrible here. It's like a dream. Maybe this is all a dream. Maybe this isn't real and I will wake up and I will realize that everything is fine and that everyone is safe and sound in their beds.' _ 

          "No," Lily murmured as she glanced quickly around the field at all the damage. She watched as mediwizards and witches bustled around the field, bringing all sorts of concoctions to the wounded. 

          She watched as Aurors lay on the ground. Their black robes waving slightly in the wind. They moaned in pain and twitched in agony. Lily gasped as she walked slowly across the field to where there was a tent set up to keep the hurt. 

          _'What if one of these people in pain is him? What if I miss him completely and I can't find him? What would I do? What can I do? Where am I supposed to go?' _Lily thought. 

          She entered the tent and was immediately drawn to the back of the tent to a head of messy black hair. She blinked a few times as if she couldn't believe the sight that was lying clearly in front of her. 

          _'Oh no. That cant' be him. It can't be. That's his hair though. It's not moving. He's not moving. I can't believe this. He could be dead. He could already be dead and I would have never been able to say goodbye. No, he's just injured. I have to say that he's just injured. I can go help him and everything will be okay.' _Lily sighed out. 

          "God no," Lily breathed out as she proceeded to walk to the back of the tent. The beds became blurs as she continued to walk further and further in a never-ending row of crying. The smell of blood filled the air and suddenly Lily found it hard to breathe. The needing and wanting of everything seemed to fade away until it was erased from her memory. The only thing in the world that mattered was that he was okay. 

          As she kept up her pace and continued walking slowly past all those who were lying helplessly in their beds she began to think. _'What if he isn't okay? What if something horrible happened and things are never the same? What if they can't save him? What if he dies? What if I never get to tell him how I feel? What if he never knows?' _

Lily let out a deep breath and closed her eyes to try and control the spinning objects in the room that were threatening to topple her over the edge.

           _'It's all okay now.' _

          As she stopped to catch her breath and to prepare herself for what might be, she was pushed by a healer, who was pushing past people quickly to the back of the tent where a young Auror was screaming and twitching in terror. In his haste, he bumped into Lily, who in turn lost her balance. As her foot finally grasped the ground and she began to steady herself, her other foot became entangled in the leg of the bed she was standing next to.

          The man with the messy black hair just happened to occupy the bed that Lily had been standing next to. Lily, who was unable to keep her balance, fell into the bed toppling herself and the man resting onto the floor. Lily didn't move but instead clung tightly onto the man's tattered robes afraid to let go and open her eyes in fear of how he might appear. 

          "Excuse me miss," the man mumbled from underneath Lily. 

          Her eyes flew open. She quickly jumped up and dropped the man's robes from her fingers as she looked down into the cool brown eyes of a complete stranger. His messy black hair was standing up at odd angles and his cool brown eyes were twinkling with laughter as he watched Lily turn a scarlet shade of red. 

          "I'm sorry!" Lily blurted out as she began to back away from the man, horrified at what had just happened to her. She shook her head as if trying to erase the memory of what had just happened from her mind. It didn't work. The event just kept repeating over and over on fast forward never taking a break. She took a step backwards and quickly turned around. This time, she knocked into another man sending healing utensils across the tent and knocking both of them down to the hard, cold ground. 

          "I'm sorry!" Lily shouted out again as she quickly stood up this time and turned away, trying to mask her embarrassment of being involved in yet another mishap. A shiver danced its way up her spine as she felt a hand grasp her shoulder tightly. 

          _'I think I could recognize his touch anywhere.' _Lily thought with a small smile after all of the heartache that she had just experienced. 

          "You've only been here five minutes and you've already caused a disaster," a clear voice rang out from behind Lily as the man squeezed her shoulder lightly. The laughter was evident in his voice and Lily turned around with her green eyes open wide and glimmering under the dim candle light of the tent. 

          "James!" Lily mumbled mistily as she suddenly found herself face to face with the hazel eyes she had been searching for what seemed the entire night. 

          "That was an interesting performance," James joked as he lightly tapped Lily's shoulder teasingly. His eyes then grew somber as he looked down at Lily carefully. Even through her eyes were now illuminating the room, the remnants of the tears that had been rolling down her cheeks were still evident and shimmering lightly. James reached down to wipe away a stray tear that had been resting on her cheek. 

          "I was so worried," Lily managed to utter before she completely broke down with relief and found herself wrapped up in James' arms. He clasped his arms around her tightly and pulled her in as closely as he could to his body. 

          "Everything is fine now," James whispered into her ear as he gently rubbed her back, trying to calm her silent sobs that racked her body as she clung onto him in desperation. 

          "What if everything wasn't fine?!" Lily sniffled out as she let her arms fall limply to her sides and she turned her helpless eyes up to James' face. 

          "Stop imagining and just be thankful," James commanded as he tried to pull her back into his arms. _'I need to feel her close to me again. I need to be able to touch her again. I need to be able to smell her hair. I need to be able to love her even if it isn't meant to be.' _

"Everything's running past too fast," Lily breathed out as if she were out of breath. She took a step back and let out a sigh. She was trying to keep up with the world that was speeding past her faster than she could ever hope to even glimpse a smear of color. 

          "Just let everything out," James insisted as Lily fell limp once again in his arms. This time wrapping her arms around his neck. She buried her face in his shoulder and James smiled softly as he felt the warmth of her tears spread about his neck. Lily gently raised her head from James' shoulder and broke free from his grasp, never removing her eyes from his. 

          "Thank you," Lily announced clearly as she studied James' face intently. 

          "You're welcome," James replied as he watched Lily. 

          "You have a cut," Lily quickly covered as she brought her finger up to trace a gash across James' arm. As if she was suddenly realizing exactly what she was doing, Lily pulled her hand away from James. 

          _'I shouldn't be so worried about a cut. I'm overreacting. After thinking he was dead what else am I supposed to do? I need to get rid of this shaky feeling. Everything is alright. He's safe. I'm safe. We're together. Why am I still this nervous?' _Lily thought to herself. 

          "It's nothing," James replied as he firmly stood his ground, though appearing slightly dazed at the turn of events. 

          "You have another," Lily responded as she brought her hand up to James' face to gently press on another cut that was just above his eye. James watched Lily's small smile turn into a frown as she ran her hand across a blue bruise that was beginning to appear. 

          "What are you doing here?" James asked as he shrugged Lily's hand away from his face, trying to ignore the shivers running down his spine. 

          "I'm a mediwitch," Lily explained as she stepped back from James' face, which was beginning to grow pink with an unleashed anger that seemed to be boiling up inside of him. 

          "They gave you this shift?!" James shouted quite loudly. A few witches and wizards in the tent stopped their jobs to watch James and Lily's conversation. 

          "James, they're understaffed. They need me here," Lily tried to explain as she began to take a step back from James. 

          "It's not safe," James shivered as he remembered the events that had occurred. 

          "We're both safe now," Lily whispered as she took a small step towards James again as if she were trying to calm him. James responded by wrapping his arms around Lily once again and holding her tightly. 

          "Miss Evans," a nurse finally cut in as she watched with a smile as Lily reluctantly broke free from James' grasp and turned her way.

          "Yes," Lily absent-mindedly responded as she turned her eyes towards James. 

          "They need you to come have a look at another patient," a healer with shining black hair commanded lightly as her grin grew larger, realizing Lily was still watching the man. 

          "What?" Lily asked as she finally tore her eyes away from James, who was watching her very strangely. 

          "Please just tear your attention away from your husband for one minute and come look at this patient," another healer commanded as she grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her away from James. 

          "He's not my husband!" Lily exclaimed, somewhat angrily at the accusation that the woman had just made. 

          _'How could she possibly think that James and I were married? MARRIED. Is my last name Potter? No! I don't even have a ring! We're not even in love! Sure I was glad to see that he wasn't hurt. I hugged him. Am I not allowed to hug a guy without everyone jumping to conclusions?' _Lily complained. 

          "Boyfriend," the healer corrected herself as she continued to pull Lily towards the opposite side of the tent. 

          "We aren't dating," Lily insisted as she let out a heavy sigh of annoyance. The healer turned to give Lily a look with her eyebrows raised. Lily rolled her eyes and looked away. 

~*~

          "What are you looking for?" Arabella asked Lily as she followed her through the rows and rows of books. 

          "I heard about an old book with ancient healing charms," Lily explained as she continued to sift through the books reading the titles with great interest. Arabella just rolled her eyes as she watched her friend become absorbed in the books of the past. 

          Arabella turned her eyes to another pair between the books on the shelf. A smile appeared on her lips as she looked innocently over towards Lily with a small smirk on her face. 

          "What?" Lily asked as she looked up from the titles and found Arabella watching her with an odd look upon her face. 

          "It's nothing," Arabella responded as she turned around and pretended to be engulfed in a large book that she pulled off the shelf. The book left a capacious hole in the shelf so that she could peer through to the other side. 

          A chocolate brown eye peeked through a gave a quick wink before disappearing again. Arabella glanced over at Lily who was still absorbed in a book that she had begun to read. She quickly placed her book back on the shelf and uttered an incantation underneath her breathe. 

          In a split second the entire shelf, which reached up to the ceiling, had collapsed. Lily snapped her head up in time to watch all the books splatter on the floor. She glanced over at Arabella stunned. 

          "What just happened?" Lily asked astonished. 

          "I have no idea," Arabella responded as she looked around trying to conceal her laughter. In the midst of Lily's confusion and Arabella's giggling they both heard a cry and turned around sharply. Lily's face twisted into a frown as she began to work her way through the books. Arabella just smirked as she quickly followed Lily through the wreckage. 

          "James?" Lily asked as she bent down next to a man who was covered with books. Hearing laughter she looked up at a laughing Sirius who was trying to keep hidden in the shadows. 

          _'I can't believe Sirius and Arabella! They can be so immature sometimes. Just because they think that James and I belong together doesn't make it true. They should just stop messing with fate and let it chose.' _Lily thought as she shoved a glare towards Sirius. 

          "You are such an idiot!" Lily shouted at Sirius, who shrunk further back into the shadows of the nearest shelf than before. 

          "What did I do?!" James asked as he tried desperately to shove the heavy books off of himself. He didn't appear to be having much luck with his task and Arabella laughed as she watched Lily leave James underneath the books and advance towards Sirius. 

          "Why can't you just leave us the hell alone?!" Lily screamed in Sirius' face. James twisted his head around and realized that Sirius was standing with his head down trying to mask himself from Lily's violent anger radiating off her body. 

          "You were here the whole time!" James accused Sirius as he once again tried to struggle from underneath the books.

          "Why don't you ask Arabella it was her idea!" Sirius pleaded as James and Lily turned their attention to Arabella, who had been silent the whole time. 

          "Yes, Arabella, please do explain," Lily asked sweetly as she began walking across the mess towards Arabella. 

          "I don't know what you're talking about," Arabella muttered as she began to back up, afraid of Lily's calm nature. Just then the store manager began walking over to see what the commotion was about. His eyes widened in anger and amazement as he realized the mess that had been created in his store. He turned his eyes to the four before narrowing them angrily. 

          "Get out!" He shouted. Lily, who was too enwrapped in her quest to hurt Arabella, ignored the command and immediately lunged towards Arabella. Arabella, by that time, had turned and bolted out of the store, leaving Lily flying through the air at the store manager. 

          "I said GET OUT!" the store manager screamed once again. Lily scampered off of the man as she looked down at the floor sheepishly as she tried to cover her beet red face.

          "Is anyone going to help me?" James blurted out. Lily shot her head up as her eyes widened in sympathy. She glanced shyly over at the manager who turned his head towards James. 

          "Are you going to help him?" the manager asked Lily crossly. Lily nodded shortly as she darted over to where James was laying and bent down in the pile of books next to him. Her eyes darted across James' face and she felt herself heat up once she realized that James was watching her every move. 

          "Are you going to help me?" James asked Lily, who had bowed her head to hide her inflamed face. 

          "Oh yes, sorry," Lily muttered as she looked up once again. Lily couldn't remove her eyes from James' inquisitive ones, so when she began to mutter wingaridum leviosa, she pointed her wand at James instead of at the large charm books that were piled across his body. This of course, caused James to go flying in the air. 

          "What are you doing?!" James yelled. 

          "Sorry!" Lily rambled as she pulled her wand down causing James to drop down to the ground and fall upon the pile of books. 

          "Ouch," James grumbled as he rubbed his backside. 

          "Sorry," Lily muttered as she tried to hide her steaming face and turned around quickly to run out of the store. In the doorway James caught her arm and whipped her around so that she was facing him. Lily, who had not been expecting the sudden contact, lost her footing and fell into James' arms, knocking him backwards and onto his back in the middle of the street outside. 

          "I just wanted to thank you," James breathed from underneath Lily. 

          "You're welcome," Lily muttered as she flew up off of James and straightened her robes looking around to see who had been watching their exchange. 

          "There you are!" Arabella exclaimed as she and Sirius popped out of the shadows of the building. They had clearly been eavesdropping as they were both wearing identical smiles along with matching guilty eyes. 

          "We've been looking all over for you!" Sirius added as he glanced nervously at Arabella. His eyes turned back to James and Lily and he smiled at them, seemingly innocently. 

          "Shut it," Lily shouted forcefully. 

          "You guys are giving me a headache!" James shouted after Lily as he rubbed his temples and closed his eyes as if trying to block out the entire world. 

          "Are you sure you're okay?" Lily asked James as she turned to face him with a concerned look pasted on her face. 

          "I'm fine," James muttered as he continued to rub his head. 

          "I never checked to make sure that your head was okay!" Lily exclaimed as she took a tentative step towards James, as if she were afraid of what he might say, or worse, what Arabella and Sirius might begin. 

          "We're going to go get some ice cream," Arabella announced as she grabbed Sirius' arm and pulled him around the corner. 

          "I'm fine," James repeated as he tried to back away from Lily. 

          "You still have a bruise," Lily noted as she gently pressed on the side of James' head where there had been a long cut. 

          "Ouch!" James exclaimed. Lily quickly pulled her hand away from James' face. 

          "Sorry," Lily muttered sheepishly as she gently poked her wand to James' head and uttered a spell. 

          "How do you feel?" Lily asked James as he opened his eyes and stared deeply into Lily's. 

          _'I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to control myself. I can't seem to push her out of my mind. I try so hard. I just can't muster up the strength to go through with the plan. It's impossible. Every single time she touches me I'm reminded of how I used to feel. No, how I still feel.' _James thought. 

          "Confused," James responded. After a few silent seconds he mentally slapped himself. 

          "Why are you confused?" Lily asked curiously. 

          "Forget it," James muttered as he turned his head and noticed that Arabella and Sirius were still standing in the shadows. He narrowed his eyes as he realized their motivation for standing there. Lily, who followed his glance, turned a bright pink and began to stomp over to where their friends were standing. 

          "What do you think you are doing?!" Lily screamed as she walked up to Arabella and Sirius. Her knuckles were white and her hands were shaking. 

          "Lily," Arabella warned as she backed away. James walked up and pulled Lily behind him as he smirked. 

          "Ice cream?" James asked innocently as he pointed to their empty hands. 

          "Well—"Sirius began. 

          "Save it," Lily muttered murderously. 

~*~

          "Everyone together now!" the photographer shouted to the crowd of people waiting to be photographed. The group scurried together quickly leaving to open chairs next to each other. Lily and James tentatively sat in the chairs next to each other. They tossed small smiles in each other's direction and then they quickly looked forward trying to avoid eye contact. 

          "Can you believe that this is happening?" Lily asked James as she turned in her seat, finally giving into the urge to glance at him. 

          "It feels like a dream," James replied with a nod of his head as he looked around the crowd proudly. 

          "The Order of the Phoenix," Lily mumbled as she looked out over the crowd with a smile on her face. 

          "It is too surreal," James added. 

          "What is?" Lily asked as she converted her eyes back to James. 

          "Everything. The war, this order, the fact that you're sitting here next to me," James blurted out before he quickly turned his head and allowed silence to fall over the two of them once again. 

          "Where's Arabella?" James finally asked Lily, trying to break the awkward silence that had fallen over them. 

          "She didn't want to join," Lily mumbled, scanning her eyes across the crowd of people who had gathered there. James shifted his position causing his wand to fall out of his pocket. Lily and James bent down to pick up James' wand at the same time and when their fingers met an electric jolt went up both of their arms causing them to drop the wand again and pull away from each other. 

          "She just doesn't have time," Sirius announced from behind them. He was smiling happily around the crowd. 

          "That too," Lily added with a small smile at Sirius' happiness. 

          "It's so amazing to be part of this," Sirius told Lily and James as he took a deep breath to try and lighten his mood again. 

          "Does anyone know?" James asked curiously trying to avoid details because of Lily. 

          "Do you think I've talked to them?!" Sirius exclaimed angrily as his eyes darkened over and he glared at James. 

          "No," James mumbled as he looked down at his feet and tried to avoid Lily's questioning glances. 

          "Do you think they'd approve?" Sirius asked James angrily, not sensing that James was trying to end their conversation. 

          "No," James mumbled once again trying to hide his embarrassment for bringing up this topic. 

          "They've already disowned me. My name's burned off the curtain. They hate me. I hate them. I don't think we still keep in touch about things like this. What am I supposed to do? Do you want me to call them up and tell them I joined an order against their Lord?" Sirius whispered angrily as if he were too angry to yell.

          "No," James mumbled. 

          Lily seemed to sense that the conversation had come to a close and that neither James nor Sirius would be willing to talk about what had just happened so she just sat there watching them for a few minutes before turning her head to watch the other members of the order take their seats. 

          "Black!" A man shouted from behind the group causing the three to turn around sharply. A man with fizzy red hair and a long beard appeared behind them. He looked slightly dizzy and out of place in the group but he was still acting as if he were the most significant person there.

          "Hello Aberforth," Sirius and James chimed in together. Lily gave a small wave as she turned around. 

          _'Aberforth has always been strange.' _Lily thought to herself as she watched him trip over his own feet as he came around to talk to James and Sirius. 

          "I don't know what this world is coming to," Aberforth admitted sadly as he turned his eyes down to the floor. Lily looked up to listen to what he was saying. 

          "I know. This war is horrible," James replied seriously. 

          "Well, that and I can't seem to find any decent wool scarves," Aberforth admitted with an annoyed tone of voice. Lily caught James' eye and they shared a secret laugh before turning their attention back to Aberforth. 

          "Really," Sirius replied casually. 

          "Oh look! There's my brother! I must go say hello. Perhaps he knows where I can find a scarf," Aberforth exclaimed as he headed off towards Dumbledore who was standing in the corner with Moody talking. 

          "He's always been strange," James mirrored Lily's previous thoughts as he settled back into his chair.

          "Hello Dorcas," Lily said as the woman sat down next to her. 

          "Oh hello Lily! How are you?" Dorcas asked politely as she turned her eyes to James who was sitting next to her. 

          "I'm doing fine and yourself?" Lily asked. 

          "Oh I'm doing wonderful. I see you and James are getting along better than in school," Dorcas laughed out lightly as James turned his head to listen to the conversation. 

          "What do you mean?" Lily asked slightly curious as to what Dorcas was talking about.

          "Well, during Hogwarts you wouldn't have been able to sit next to each other this calmly. You'd both be dead or hexed to no tomorrow by now!" Dorcas laughed out as if she were remembering the times when this had occurred. 

          "We're more mature now," Lily explained as she tried to drop the conversation. Although it was too late because Sirius had now become interested in what Lily and Dorcas were discussing. 

          "You know sometimes I have to wonder what brought about their change," Sirius told Dorcas with an evil glint in his eye as he watched Lily growl. 

          "Oh we all knew it would happen sooner or later!" Dorcas laughed as she winked at Lily and James who sat there with their mouths gaping. 

          "It's not what you think!" Lily exclaimed. 

          "I always knew that you two would end up together!" Dorcas exclaimed happily. At this exclamation Emmeline turned around to look at Lily and James sitting next to each other and she quickly turned to Dorcas. 

          "I personally thought it would be sooner than now," Emmeline stated as a matter of fact statement before she gave Lily and James a small smile and turned back around, ignoring their matching shocked expressions. 

          "We aren't dating!" Lily screamed so loud that everyone stopped talking and turned around to stare at her and James sitting next to each other. They were sitting quite closely due to the amount of people being squeezed in a small space. 

          Silence filled their seats as they sat staring straight ahead for a few minutes. The chattering around them seemed to become louder as they tried to concentrate on something across the room. Anything but each other. 

          "Peter!" James suddenly shouted as he stood up quickly. 

          "Hello Prongs," Peter mumbled as he looked down at the ground to avoid James' gaze. 

          "Hi Peter," Lily muttered as she glanced up at Peter quickly enough so that she could avoid James. 

          "There aren't any more chairs," Peter complained as he looked around the crowd helplessly. A glint of anger flashed through his watery eyes, but as quickly as it had come it disappeared. 

          "Here you can sit between me and Lily," James announced quickly as he scooted over leaving a spot open for Peter. Peter sat down and Lily instantly inched away. She stole a glance of James, who was concentrating on looking straight ahead. 

          "Come together again now!" the photographer yelled. 

          _'Sometimes I wonder if he feels the things that I feel. He certainly acts awkward enough around me. It makes me start thinking if he really does think about me that way. Then again, he can probably tell how I feel. That's it. He knows what I'm thinking. He knows how I feel and he feels awkward about that. It has nothing to do with how he feels. He doesn't feel anything for me. Nothing.' _Lily thought as she finally tore her eyes away from James and smiled for the click of the camera. 

~*~

          "To the downfall of he-who-must-not-be-named!" Sirius exclaimed happily as he sneakily wrapped his arm around Arabella's shoulders and lifted his drink into the air in a toast. Arabella, James, and Lily followed and lifted their drinks up as well. 

          "You sound as if the war is over," Lily laughed lightly. Her eyes darkened over as she thought of reality and how the war was really beginning instead of having just finished. James flashed a concerned glance towards Lily as he reached out his hand, as if to console her, before grabbing it away quickly. 

          "It will be soon now that we're involved!" Sirius exclaimed once again happily as he chugged his drink and set it down on the table with a loud thud. Arabella glared at Sirius as she carefully picked up his arm and dropped it down on the table. 

          "He doesn't have a big head at all," Arabella announced sarcastically as she rolled her eyes at Sirius who mocked hurt. 

          "What is that supposed to mean?" Sirius whined. 

          "He could be right," James mumbled as he looked down into his drink to avoid everyone who had now turned their attention towards him. 

          "Not you too," Arabella complained as she ran her hand through her hair with exasperation. 

          "We don't know how it's going to end," James began truthfully. 

          "He does have a point," Lily told Arabella, who was still rolling her eyes at James. Arabella just rolled her eyes at Lily and settled back into her chair. 

          "You never know. Sirius could kill him in a duel. Then again so could Lily or I," James murmured before he trailed off and looked down at the scratches in the table once again. 

          "It's all up to destiny," Lily added as she studied James. A few minutes later James raised his head to find that Lily was still watching him. She smiled lightly as her face began to heat up and turn scarlet before she looked down. James, who continued to watch her, rested his elbow on the table. 

          _'Why does she have to say that it is all up to destiny? What if I don't agree with destiny? Can I change it? Maybe destiny is us. Would she understand everything then? Sometimes I wonder if she would notice if it knocked on her door.' _James thought as he continued to stare at Lily. 

          "James," Sirius laughed out as he tried to break his friend's attention away from Lily for a few seconds. 

          Sirius continued laughing as he turned to Arabella and winked. Arabella rolled her eyes in James and Lily's direction. They shook hands and then immediately calmed down and resumed their original positions. 

          "James, could you please tear your eyes away from her for one minute?" Sirius shouted causing many people in other tables to turn and face them. Sirius just smiled sweetly at them and they quickly turned back around to their former conversations. James jerked his eyes from Lily and turned them to Sirius. 

          "I wasn't staring at Lily!" James yelled at Sirius as he took his glasses off and rubbed them on his robes. 

          "I never said you were," Sirius replied exasperated. James' face began to heat up as he cautiously glanced over at Lily who was turning the same bright shade of red. He finally mustered up enough courage to glance back at Sirius innocently praying that he wouldn't say anything else. 

          "What?" James asked. He was growing uncomfortable under Sirius and Arabella's stares. They finally lifted their eyes off of him with smiles. 

          "You spilt your butterbeer," Arabella managed to burst out with a straight face before finally collapsing into a fit of giggles as she looked over at Lily, who was glaring at her and Sirius. 

          James jumped up as he realized that he had indeed spilt the butterbeer all over his lap. The entire restaurant turned to stare at him as he tried to dry off his robes quickly. Lily then turned her head and pointed her wand as she muttered a drying spell. James looked at Lily thankfully, unfortunately she missed his gaze. He sat down calmly and covered his head in his arms. 

          "Thanks," he murmured in Lily's direction. Lily just nodded her head as she tried not to attract the attention of Arabella and Sirius once again who were busy congratulating each other on causing another of James and Lily's awkward moments. 

          After a few minutes of silence their food arrived. The awkward silence was then filled with the clattering of utensils on their plates as they tried to eat as quickly as possible so that they could avoid conversation and return home as quickly as possible. 

          "Lily Evans!" a woman's voice called from behind the table. Lily and James turned to look around and found themselves face to face with Alice Wilson. Her brown hair was bobbing up and down happily and she sat down in a chair that Arabella pulled up for her. 

          "Alice Wilson!" Lily exclaimed happily as she hugged her friend and sat back down next to James. 

          "How have you been?" Lily asked Alice after everyone had settled back down after their initial greetings. 

          "I've been great!" Alice exclaimed, "Actually, I've been doing better," Alice announced as she held out her hand to Lily and Arabella, which had a glistening diamond rested on her ring finger. 

          "You're engaged!" Arabella squeaked happily as she watched Lily and James' reaction to the news. Their faces were expressionless as if they were trying to hide their true feelings from everyone else at the table. 

          "Congratulations!" Lily smiled as she risked a glance at James, who had been watching Lily the entire time. 

          "Frank?" Sirius asked curiously with his eyebrows raised. Alice just blushed casually and nodded her head happily. 

          "How are you and James?" Alice asked Lily with a knowing smile. 

          "We're not dating," James cut in before Lily could politely correct Alice for her mistake. She turned and gave James a glare before she turned back to Alice and rolled her eyes in James' direction. 

          "Sorry," Alice muttered as she shot a questioning glance to Arabella and Sirius who just shrugged their shoulders and looked down at the table. 

          "You're not the only one," Lily grumbled as she shot daggers at Arabella and Sirius who were watching her with impassive faces. 

~*~

          "Lily you look tired," Arabella commented as she looked over at Lily. Her green eyes were beginning to glaze over and her eyelids were dropping as if they were trying to hold up weights. 

          "No, I'm fine," Lily replied as she forced herself to open her eyes and sit up straight. 

          _'I can't help myself. I'm drained. I can't keep my eyes open. I just don't trust myself to fall asleep in here. I could accidentally touch James in my sleep and then a whole new set of rumors would be started. I know that it was Arabella who suggested that we were dating to Alice. She didn't just come up with that idea on her own. I saw that look she gave Arabella and Sirius. Like they had told her something before. I wouldn't doubt the fact that they did.' _Lily thought as she tried to force herself to stay awake. 

          "Are you sure you don't want to go to bed?" Arabella asked as she once again watched her friend's eyelids droop. 

          "I'm awake!" Lily shouted, louder than expected as she sat up straight and opened her eyes wide to show that she was not asleep. 

          _'She makes me wonder why she wants me to go to bed right now. What is she going to tell James if I leave? I have to stay awake. I can't risk her letting my secret slip. What would James think if he found out? He probably would stay as far away from me as possible and I don't' know how I would deal with that.' _Lily thought once again as she began to drift off to sleep. 

          "Are you sure you don't want to go to bed?" Sirius asked as he eyed Lily who once again forced herself to stay awake. 

          "Yes!" Lily shouted angrily as she shifted positions so that she wouldn't be in James' way if she actually did fall asleep. 

          "We won't mind," Sirius added as he watched Lily's expression change from angry to livid. She didn't speak but instead glared at Sirius with an unknown hatred. Sirius blinked and quickly looked away from Lily afraid of her sudden anger projected towards him. 

          Lily once again began to fall asleep. The conversation between Sirius and Arabella seemed to become more distant and the room appeared to become foggy as she began to loose her grip on her consciousness and began to fall into sleep once again. 

          "I think Lily's asleep," she heard Arabella say softly to Sirius and James as the three of them turned to look in Lily's direction. 

          "I am not asleep!" Lily exclaimed as she sat up once again this time she didn't make sure she was positioned away from James. As soon as her commotion was finished and the normal conversation between Sirius and Arabella had returned she began to drift off this once again. This time she allowed her head to fall on his shoulder. 

          "Lily," James mumbled as he reached up to pat her silky red hair. 

          _'Why does he have to touch me. He makes my mind go into a chaotic state. I can't think straight. I can't breathe normal. Why does it have to be him? Why James of all people?' _Lily thought. 

          Lily grumbled a response that sounded as if she said she wasn't asleep. James just smiled as he watched her eyes finally close and her breathing become slightly slower than normal. 

          "I think it's time for you to go to bed," James whispered in Lily's ear as she shifted her head on his shoulder. He turned his head as he watched Arabella and Sirius begin to change their conversation as if they were trying to get James and Lily to leave the room so that they could spend some quality time together. 

          James glanced at Arabella and Sirius who had become entangled in each other's mouths. He rolled his eyes as he quickly shielded his eyes and looked away not wanting to watch them any longer than he had to. He looked down at Lily, who mumbled something that was incoherent as she kept her head on James' shoulder and unconsciously snuggled in tighter. 

          "I'm going to take you up to bed," James whispered once again as he glanced over at Sirius and Arabella who were leaning in closer at a rapid rate. James took the opportunity to scoop Lily up in his arms and quickly bolt out of the room. 

          James began to walk through the hallway unsteadily. He opened every door he came to and never finding Lily's bedroom. He finally opened Lily's door, he pushed it open and walked inside. As James advanced towards the bed in the middle of the room he stepped on a stray shoe that Lily had left next to her bed. This caused James to topple himself and Lily on the bed with himself placed on top of her. 

          "James," Lily asked groggily as she opened her eyes to find James lying on top of her. 

          She could feel his breath on her face and suddenly she didn't feel so sleepy anymore. James watched as Lily opened her startling green eyes and looked deeply into his own. He could feel her lifting her head slightly up and he tried to resist to bending his down to meet her.                                 

          "I was just bringing you to bed," James announced quickly as he shook himself out of his thoughts and jerked his head up. He jumped quickly off of Lily and bolted out of the room as fast as he could. Lily just sighed and flopped back on the bed. 

~*~

**Author's Note: **I first of all have to thank all of my amazing betas because I would never be able to have this story up here without them! They are so awesome!!! So thank you Brenda, Natalie, and Manda!

I also have to thank all of my reviewers because you motivate me more than anything! THANK YOU!

**PonyLuvrGirl: **I'm sorry I wasn't able to update that quickly but I did update! I was just motivated to write another chapter for this story! Thank you so much for your nice review. Oh and this fanfiction should end up being 17 chapters. That's how I have it planned out! 

**islandgirl4: **Thank you so much for the review! Hopefully my update didn't take too long!

**izzybell4life: **I know I hate school it's way to much work! It keeps me from updating! I guess you'll just have to wait to see if Mark or Sherry return...lol...Joey will be back trust me. You might have to wait a while though but keep checking for him!

**emily63: **Thank you!! Hopefully I didn't take too long to update! I should really be updating my other stories so be happy I updated this as soon as I did. 

**pokie4389: **Thank you for your review! I sent another chapter of Behind Locked Doors out to my betas and only 1 has returned it! Ugh! Anyway it should be updated very soon and I will get working on my other updates too!! 

**elvencherry07: **Thank you tons for the review!!!

**Hermione101888: **oh no! That must've not been fun! I hate it when embarrassing things like that happen to me too. I'm glad that my story isn't getting cliche! I've been trying to get away from all the cliche fictions that are out there. Hopefully it's still continuing with the twists!

**lilblondie2182: **Thank you for reviewing!!

**Lisa Meunier: **Thank you! I'm glad you like my story and my style! It's always great to hear from people who do!

**cara-meLisSa: **I'm still alive! Haha I hope that this wait was worth it just as much as the others have been. I don't want to disappoint anyone! You're just going to have to wait and see when Lily and James get together. I'm not telling! And no, Peter will NEVER be loved. 

**Elegystar: **I'm sorry I always take a long time to update and this was hurrying for me! It was all your review ;-)

**smile28: **Thank you! I'm glad that you can imagine everything. That's one of a writer's goals. To have such a vivid world that anyone can feel as if they are actually there! I'm honored that I can write like that!! Thanks!!

**Donzabobo: **I'm glad you didn't care about the fluffiness! Thanks for the review!!

**Mimi: **Thank you so much! Hopefully the wait wasn't too bad! 

**I o u a name: **Thank you! Arabella and Sirius are being very annoying. That's their job though they have to go through with it because I'm making them! Haha. Sorry about the wait!

**LENAk: **Thank you! I'm glad that you caught the double meaning of the line! I'm so honored to be one of your favorite L/J writers! Thank you! I'll be sure to keep up my writing for you!!

**Carmen: **Thank you so much! I'm sorry about the wait for this chapter!

**Anne-Janet: **thank you! I have to say that I agree with you when you say Poor Lily and James. 

**ShorTi: **I'm so happy you stayed up late just to read my fic and that you liked it! Thanks for reviewing! Hopefully you got my e-mail and you'll review again!!

**cloak12: **I am honored to be your first review! Thank you so much for reviewing! Trust me I won't stop ever I just take a while to update unfortunately. Thanks!

**I Love James Potter 4 eva: **Don't worry I'm always going to update! It just sometimes takes me a while...okay it usually takes me a while. We all know they're going to eventually get together...the question is when. An old witch on the sidewalk said that the younger generation was blind...and I'm glad you like Joey! I love him!

**Willow23: **Thank you so much for the review! Oh and I'm sorry about your face mask! Oh trust me Lily and James will eventually kiss and I threw in a tiny bit of Arabella and Sirius. Not that much though...sorry it shall come. I don't know if that was the longest review ever but it's up there trust me! Try again and if it's the longest I'll let you know!

**khel-shaye: **Thank you! I'm going to keep writing until it's finished don't worry about it!!!!

**aliyah5: **Thank you so much! I'm glad that my fic is different that's what I try and do with all of my fanfictions. I don't want them to be cliche! They will kiss soon enough don't worry it's not fun if they kiss now! Your English is very good-and I'm learning French in school!

**Lololchik: **I'm glad you like it! Thanks!

**NiNaPoP: **Thank you...maybe one of them should smack Arabella and/or Sirius. It would make for an interesting chapter. Hopefully I didn't make you wait too long for this update!

**Princess19: **Thank you for reviewing! I'm so glad you like my story!!

**Rachel: **thank you for the review. Oops I didn't think about that when I wrote it. Maybe I'll fix it someday but if I ever use shopping cart again I'll be sure to put trolley instead! Oh and yes it is what the British say. Thanks for pointing that out for me!

**Geets: **Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked the chapter! Don't worry about reviewing late! As long as you review!! Hopefully I updated quickly enough. Don't hurry the story! Won't you be sad when it's over? Lol

**Elven Dagger: **Don't worry I'm going to continue this story until it's finished! Thanks so much for reviewing! 

**Eva: **I'm sorry I am such a busy person that it's hard to find time to actually write a chapter and update. Since I try and keep my chapters long and detailed, as many people enjoy, it takes longer than it would if I just pulled something together quickly. I take lots of pride in how and I write and I try to make it as good as it can possibly be for your enjoyment! On top of that I have school, with tons and tons of homework, basketball practice for 2 hours every day after school, then dance and guitar...but I'll try and update as fast as I can...I already have 4 pages done of the next chapter...

**Tribal Leader: **Like I've said a million times I'm going to continue even if it takes me a while! The story will eventually finish! Thank you so much for your review! I always love hearing from people who say they love my story, it encourages me to keep writing :) I started to read your story and I have to say that I really liked it I didn't have a chance to leave a review since I haven't had any more time to read but I swear that as soon as I have a spare moment I will review!! I promise! 

**Nestle:** You know whenever I leave a note I always sign in and make sure that if I'm not I at least leave my e-mail address so that I can be contacted. I asked for constructive criticism and the note you left me was far from that. I found it extremely rude and immature. I realize that you are entitled to your own opinion of my story and that's perfectly fine with me, however, fanfictions aren't based on reality. The characters are based on ones from a **book**. They aren't real, they haven't ever been real, and they are never going to be real. They only exist in our imaginations. The whole Harry Potter series is based on a fantasy, a world that isn't reality. If we all stuck to reality we wouldn't be writing fanfictions or reading any fiction books. When you find another story that has the same plot as me, that was written before mine, you can call my story unoriginal but to my knowledge this story is the only one of its kind. I'm not going to change anything in my story just because you tell me to. If you don't enjoy my story then please refrain from reading it and go find yourself a life. 

**Loraliant Angelisa Snape: **Hey since I'm talking to you as I'm actually writing this review I don't really have that much to say, but thanks for reviewing! It's always fun to hear from you!!


	8. Well, you know

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1**Summary:** Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate?

**Disclaimer: **Silly rabbits, I don't own a thing!

**Author's Note: **As of right now I haven't even posted chapter seven and I'm on to Chapter 8 already. Of course by the time you all read this chapter seven will be posted and I'm sure you'll have had a wait for this chapter. Which is to allow me time to get reviews. Which are always fun. The faster you review. The faster I post the next chapters. Well that's if I already have them done. I hope you enjoy this chapter and laugh because that's what this story is really about. Well then...have fun reading!

**MidnightGoddess1**

.....................................................................

**Excuse Me Miss Evans**

**Chapter Eight: Well, You know**

**By: Midnight Goddess**

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          "Lily Evans!" a man shouted out through the crowd in the small coffee house. Lily immediately raised her head and pushed her red hair behind her ears. She set her eyes on a tall man who was coming over towards the table. The ripples of sunlight danced throughout the coffee shop as she glanced across the tables in attempt to keep her eyes away from the man approaching, and more importantly, the man sitting in the chair next to her. 

          _'I would have never expected him to walk up to me of all people. What am I supposed to do with James sitting right next to me? I mean; the man follows me around at work. He must have some reason for doing that. What if he hits on me? What if James sees? What if he decides that there is no future for us because of this annoying man?' _Lily worried as she tried to shake the cold blood that began flowing through her veins instantly. 

          "Hello Edward," Lily sighed out as she once again looked down at her coffee mug.  Whispers of steam were rising up and tickling her nose causing a small smile to appear on her face. Edward smiled back thinking that the smile was addressed to him. At this James looked up and watched the unlikely exchange between the two with saddened eyes. 

          _'Who is this man? What if Lily is dating someone and I never knew about it? Why wouldn't she have told me something like that? I understand that we were never good friends and that even now we aren't best friends. I would assume though that something as large as this would have come out eventually in one of our conversations.' _James thought as he quickly looked down and tried not to stare in the man's direction any longer. 

          "How are you this lovely morning?" Edward asked as he pulled up a chair from another table and squeezed himself in right between Lily and James. Lily raised her eyes from her coffee and looked at James apologetically quickly darting her eyes in Arabella's direction. Arabella covered a giggle that was threatening to escape her mouth as she turned to hide her head from Edward's point of view. 

  


          "I'm fine and you?" Lily asked politely as she glanced nervously back at Sirius and Arabella who were glaring at Edward. Edward just nodded his head in their direction and glanced over at James, whom Lily was desperately trying to make eye contact. Lily looked up at the ceiling as if she were praying to God to make the young man leave their table. 

          "I'm doing wonderfully," Edward replied as he gave Lily a toothy grin. Lily coughed  into her coffee as she rolled her eyes so that Edward could not see her. She lifted her head in time to catch Edward staring at all of her friends as if he were trying to analyze everyone's relationship with Lily. At this, she became flustered with the anger that flooded her veins easily. 

          "Are you planning on introducing us to your friend?" Sirius asked in a deadpan voice that suggested no teasing but merely unexplained anger. Lily glanced at James who was just staring at the scratches in the table as if he were trying to forget that he were part of the unfolding conversation. 

          "This is Edward," Lily tried to force a smile as she uttered those words but she found it hard when Edward grinned at her, showing off his sparkling white teeth. She sighed lightly as she glanced around at her friends' expressionless faces. 

          "How did you two happen to meet?" Arabella asked in a sugary sweet voice that suggested that she didn't really care but was merely trying to find out the fact so that she could use them against Lily later. Lily pleaded silently with Arabella as she widened her eyes in disgust. 

          "We work in the hospital together," Edward explained happily as he glanced over at his co-worker with a slightly hungry look, causing James to clench his fists lightly. Lily noticed this change in attitude and she sent a warning glance in James' direction. 

          "The two across from you are Sirius and Arabella," Lily mentioned as she gestured across the table to her friends. Sirius nodded his head and Arabella murmured a hello. Lily turned back to Edward as she watched him narrow his eyes at Sirius. Arabella tried to hide  a giggle at this action as she nudged Sirius in the ribs, who in turn raised his eyebrows at Lily. 

          "Sirius and Arabella went to school with me," Lily explained as she tried to change Edwards attention back to her two friends instead of glaring at them. She coughed loudly which caused him to turn his attention back to what Lily was trying to say. 

          "Were you all good friends there?" Edward asked as he glanced over at James, who was sitting in the corner, now staring at the rings made by the coffee mugs with a great interest that was hard to believe. Lily quickly turned the conversation back to Arabella and Sirius as she tried to draw as much attention away from James as possible in her attempt to remain normal and composed. 

          "That's funny," Sirius laughed out hollowly as he turned to see James' reaction to the fiasco that was occurring right in front of their eyes. James still had his head turned to the table as if he were trying to avoid eye contact with everyone in the café. 

          "What does he mean by that?" Edward leaned over to whisper in Lily's ear. His warm breath tickled her ear and she slightly scooted her chair over to move away from him. 

  


          "James, Sirius, and I were not very close during our years at Hogwarts," Lily explained from a wider distance as she scooted further away from Edward, who was attempting to move his hand closer to Lily's. 

          "That's an understatement," Arabella stated as she watched James finally lift his head up from the table and turn to watch the conversation quietly from his corner. His hazel eyes finally found their way to Lily and connected with hers for a split second. It seemed as if understanding came between the two of them before they were torn away back into reality. 

          "We hated each other," Lily corrected herself as she gave James a small smile and finally turned her attention back to the conversation leaving a smiling James off in his own world in the corner. 

          "Everything has changed now," Arabella admitted as she laughed out as she shot glances between Lily and James who both turned a slight pink at being referred to indirectly. 

          "Really," Edward commented as he became slightly flustered and began to give Sirius warning glances. Sirius caught Lily's eye as they shared a secret laugh at what Edward was actually suggesting. 

          "Not that much," Arabella finally blurted out as she watched Edward become slightly calmer although he had not taken his eyes off of Sirius. She placed her hand protectively over Sirius' as if she expected Lily to replace hers over his at any given second.  

          "Sirius and Arabella have put their differences aside and they're a couple now," Lily laughed out as she watched Edward lower his eyes with a slight nod of his head for an apology. He then turned his attention to James, who was now staring at Lily openly. 

          "I don't think you introduced us," Edward announced to Lily as he pointed at James, whose eyes widened at being referred to, as if he had forgotten that he was in the room. Lily also widened her eyes as if she were afraid to speak of James because she might possibly give away even a fraction of her feelings. 

          "That's my friend James," Lily explained with a warm smile as she felt a pair of hazel eyes lock onto her. Her face began to slightly heat up as she turned her head away from where Edward and James were both watching her. 

          "Your friend," Edward repeated lightly as he looked back and forth between Lily and James, who were desperately trying to avoid eye contact of any kind, he finally let out a small sigh of happiness as he settled back in his chair. 

          At this comment Arabella and Sirius smiled widely and coughed into their hands lightly as if they were merely trying to clear their throats. Lily turned to glare at them as James just continued to stare at the cracks in the table and try to wish himself away from the entire situation. 

          "I assumed you were dating," Edward smiled to himself as if he were the luckiest man in the world as he made that comment. Lily sighed as she dropped her head into her hands and James just watched her with amusement dancing in his eyes. 

          "It's a common assumption," Lily admitted as she lifted her head from her hands and quickly darted her eyes away from their resting spot on James. She looked up at Edward who had directed his cool blue eyes to Lily. 

          "Is there a reason for that?" Edward asked as his eyes pried into Lily's uncomfortably. She quickly glanced over to Arabella and Sirius for help on the topic. She once again looked back at Edward and shrugged her shoulders shakily. 

          "They're just close friends," Arabella jumped to help defend Lily and James. They both looked at her with thankful eyes before quickly returning back to the conversation. Lily let out a short laugh as she considered the circumstances. 

          "My shift begins in twenty minutes," Edward announced to the table as he stood to get up from the table. He glanced around the table and his eyes finally rested on Lily before he pushed his chair in. Lily let out the breath she had been holding in the entire conversation. 

          "Just her friends," Edward muttered barely audible as he glanced at Sirius and James one last time before taking a step backwards only to take another step forward towards the table. 

          "Then Lily," Edward began, "You wouldn't mind having dinner with me?" 

          Lily was startled as she stared at Edward. He was looking at her expectantly. She glanced across the table to where Sirius was trying to hold his composure and not break out laughing uncontrollably. Arabella was darting her eyes back and forth towards James as if trying to tell Lily a message. Lily narrowed her eyes at Arabella as she finally turned to James. James had removed his eyes from the wood polishing on the table and had decided to look up and watch the conversation. His hazel eyes seemed duller than usual and he appeared to be nervous or worried. Lily's heart ached as she finally looked back into Edward's plain blue eyes. 

          "Well, you know," Lily began as she watched Edward's eyes light up with expectancy. 

~*~

          "What the hell was that?" Arabella shouted as soon as the group had left the crowded café and began walking down the street, in a different direction than Edward. Lily turned her head, her red hair catching the sunlight, and watched as Edward skipped away from her, his light humming blew with the wind past Lily's ear as she sighed heavily and turned back to her friends who were watching her intently. 

          "He just assumed! You all know that I don't want to go with him!" Lily explained as she began to become frustrated with herself and flung her hands up dramatically into the air, knocking James' glasses off his face.

          "You know, things like that wouldn't happen if you didn't stand on top of her," Sirius blurted out with a slick smile on his face as he turned his head quickly in order to dodge James' glare, somewhat in his direction, since he had lost his glasses. 

          "Are you okay?" Lily asked as she turned to James and tried to ignore Sirius and Arabella who were just trying to unleash her temper. She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and checked James' face for any scratches. 

          "I'm fine, I just dropped my glasses," James replied shakily as he took a step back to avoid Lily's intense gaze. A cracking sound filled the air as James rolled his eyes and bent down to pick up his glasses. Lily had already taken out her wand and repaired them as soon as James held them out to see the damage. 

          "Thanks," James mumbled as he placed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose and backed away from Lily, who looked slightly hurt. 

          "You could've set him straight," Arabella explained as she broke the awkward silence that fills the air so often when James and Lily were together, and in close contact. She smiled as Lily's eyes darkened.

          "You know very well that I tried," Lily began as she trailed off, remembering what had just occurred moments earlier in the cozy café. 

          _"Then Lily, you wouldn't mind having dinner with me?" Edward asked expectantly, his eyes pouring hopefully, and almost defensively into Lily's. _

_          "Well, you know," Lily began as she stumbled over her words. Not wanting to give away anything of her relationship with James and not wanting to upset him either. _

_          "Yes," Edward urged her on with his hope and security growing more with each silent second. _

_          "You see," Lily tried to explain as she lost her eyes in James' hair, which he was ruffling uncontrollably._

_          "I'll pick you up at seven," Edward finished for her as he grinned at her once again, he turned around without giving Lily a final say and locked eyes with James quickly, who tore his eyes away and walked out of the café quickly; letting the door close on a very pregnant woman and a three-year-old boy._

_          "What just happened?" Lily asked as she turned to face her friends who were all staring at her with their mouths hanging open._

"You didn't say anything," Sirius commented as he glanced over at James, who was starting to walk away from them. He quickly grabbed the back of James' robe and pulled him back into their circle.

          "I talked and you know I did!" Lily exclaimed as she became more and more excited with what was happening. She was turning a deep red as she realized what had just happened, and what she had just done in front of James. 

          _'James saw everything. He has to know that I don't like Edward. I could care less about what happens to Edward. Of course, James is so dense. He won't ever notice how I feel and I'm sure he doesn't notice how embarrassed I am because of this. He probably thinks I'm thrilled about this date. I probably just blew all of my chances with him.' _

          "You really didn't say anything, you just let him assume," James mumbled from behind Sirius and Arabella. They both turned to him with startled looks on their faces, as if they had forgotten that he was part of this conversation. At once they moved apart, knowing that if James and Lily were talking about this they were sure to start a world war. 

          "I said nothing that would make him assume that I wanted to go out to dinner with him!" Lily shrieked as she became angrier with James. Her face matched the red awning of the café, and her fists were clenched, hanging down by her sides, threatening to swing up violently at the trigger. 

          "Exactly you said _nothing_," James pointed out as he too became angrier with Lily's stubborn behavior, and the fact that she played with his heart right in front of his eyes. 

          "Nothing does not imply by any means that I want to have dinner with someone," Lily forced back towards James as her eyes began to water. She quickly turned her head down to try and avoid James seeing her eyes. 

          "He was probably already nervous enough as it was," James said changing the conversation to a different road. Sirius and Arabella exchanged a look that showed they knew exactly where this conversation was going to end. 

          "Well, he has no reason to be nervous around me. He should just keep more control over himself," Lily shouted back, after mentally slapping herself for allowing those words to escape her mouth. 

          "Well, at least he can talk to you," James snapped at Lily angrily as they slowly advanced towards each other. 

          "Oh that's such an improvement," Lily replied sarcastically, forgetting that this was James she was fighting with and that she should think about what she should say instead of blurting out what was truly on her mind. 

          "It's just like during Hogwarts," Arabella whispered to Sirius as he nodded his head with enlightenment. 

          "You know Lily, you seemed pretty nervous too," James teased, lividly, as he raised his eyebrows in suggestion. Arabella and Sirius watched the conversation like a tennis match, one second thinking they were fighting about their own relationship, the next denying that they had even considered the possibility, and right back again. 

          "Don't use my name," Lily growled out. 

          "Oh, so now you've sunk to changing the conversation, good plan Evans," James rolled his eyes obviously in Lily's direction, riling her up even more. 

          "I do not get nervous around Edward, you of all people should know!" Lily exclaimed before her eyes bulged out and she closed her mouth immediately. James, however, took no notice of this comment and just continued on with the conversation.

          "I don't pay attention," James dismissed the comment quickly and shoved it aside to the back of his brain to analyze later. 

          "If anyone else were to ask you out, you know you wouldn't respond," James shouted.

          "You shouldn't be talking," Lily laughed out lightly as she remembered all the times James asked her out during Hogwarts. 

          "You aren't catching on quickly, Evans, that's amazing considering you were Head Girl," James replied as he lowered his head to prepare himself for what he was about to bring up. 

          "What are you talking about?" Lily asked, her anger simmering in her slight moment of confusion. 

          "You always told me no," James mumbled out as he turned away and began to walk down the street. Lily's eyes widened as he brought up those particular memories. She opened her mouth as if to speak but was cut off. 

          "Don't you think you've done enough damage for one day?" Sirius asked as he watched Lily underneath heavy eyes. 

          "I didn't think—" Lily began.

          "We can all tell," Sirius replied as he took off down the street after James, who was quickening his pace to try and get away from Lily as fast as possible. 

          "He did have a point," Arabella tried to calm Lily down; of course her choice of words was not the best. 

          "Do you think that I don't know that?!" Lily shrieked as she turned around to face Arabella with her eyes bloodshot and tear stains from the crying she had been through in the past few minutes of their conversation. 

          "I know that you know _now_," Arabella began, before just deciding to quit the path that she was treading and move to a more secure conversation. 

          "Just don't say anything," Lily tried to convince Arabella. 

          "I just want to know why you couldn't say anything," Arabella questioned as she lowered her voice and her eyes to avoid Lily's crying ones; not wanting to see what a wreak her friend had become over one fight. 

          "James was there," Lily responded simply as she sunk down into a bench in front of the café. 

          "You talk in front of him all the time. You talk to him all the time. I'm assuming when you two are alone you're talking since you deny doing anything else," Arabella coughed out with a small smile. 

          "Don't even start," Lily warned. 

          "Then please explain," Arabella insisted. 

          "I couldn't say no. What if Edward asked why I couldn't go out with him? We'd already established the fact that James and I weren't dating and that you and Sirius were dating. If I'd have said no what would I have said. No I can't go because I lo—" Lily cut herself off before to gave off too much. 

          "No need to stop. I already know what you were going to say," Arabella laughed out as she watched Lily's face turn into a tomato. 

          "Is that what you'd do if James asked you out to dinner? You know that he'd assume that you meant no," Arabella suddenly asked seriously. 

          "He shouldn't think that after our last conversation," Lily sighed out. 

          "He's dense, he won't even consider that fact," Arabella assured Lily. 

          "That is not helping," Lily rolled her eyes as she stood up. 

          "You know, James and you are very violent. Don't _ever_ update me on your love life, when it actually happens," Arabella laughed out as Lily rolled her eyes and stalked off. 

~*~

          "You look ravishing tonight Lily," Edward announced the next evening as he appeared at Lily's front door at seven o'clock sharp. Lily glanced him up and down, noticing his black, silk dress robes and his large wizard's watch on his left arm. She tried to smile as his ice blue eyes pried into her own dull green ones. 

          "Thank you," Lily replied lightly as she glanced over Edward once again, wishing with all her heart that it was someone else standing on her doorstep, holding out a white lily instead of a blood red rose, "You look nice as well." 

          Edward held his head up high as he placed his arm out for Lily to take, "Shall we go?" __

"Okay," Lily replied a little hesitantly as she closed the door securely behind her quite loud so that Arabella was sure to hear it. 

          _'I can't believe I got myself into this damn mess. I'm forced to go out when it's freezing cold outside with a man that I absolutely hate. The man stalks me for God's sake! I can't breathe at work, he's always on my back, and now I don't even get this evening free. Why can't I just admit my feelings for James? Maybe everything would be different...' _Lily complained in her mind as she was forced into taking Edward's arm. 

          "You're very quiet," Edward commented, without much concern, but more for the sake of conversation. His eyes once again prowled over Lily's body, making her quite uncomfortable. 

          "I have a lot on my mind," Lily replied lightly, trying to drop the conversation quickly and escape back into her own thoughts where she was safe from speaking or looking directly at Edward. 

          "I thought we could go get a quick night cap at the Three Broomsticks and then head over to watch this film. I've heard it is amazing," Edward announced as Lily nodded her head in agreement not wanting to let her real thoughts of this whole evening out. 

          "Sounds nice," Lily replied finally after a few moments of silence, which actually calmed her nerves.

          The door jingled as they entered into the Three Broomsticks and sat themselves down at an isolated table in the corner that Edward picked out himself. He pulled out the chair for Lily and pulled his around closer to her, causing her to squirm uncontrollably. 

          "I'll go order us some drinks," Edward told Lily as he stood up and left, but not before squeezing her shoulder causing painful shivers to go down Lily's spine. She was left to her own thoughts at the lonely table. 

          _'Once again, here I am thinking about how bad I've screwed things up. If I wasn't such a wimp and could face my own feelings, then maybe I wouldn't be here right now miserable, and it's so close to Christmas.' _Lily was startled out of her thoughts as her eyes caught on a red sweater across the room. She smiled lightly to herself, forgetting to be angry as she caught sight of the green and black cloaks occupying other two seats at the table. 

          "Here we go," Edward replied as he flopped down in his chair, after gracefully placing two butterbeers on the table in front of them. Lily quickly jerked her eyes away from where she was staring and back to the table for more of the hell she was living. 

          "What are your plans for Christmas?" Edward asked Lily, trying to break the silence that they were breathing at the moment. Lily, who had been quite comfortable with the lack of conversation, appeared slightly annoyed to be drawn back into their conversation. She smiled lightly, however, when she thought of what she had just seen. 

          "I'll be spending it with my family," Lily replied quickly making sure that she had final plans and couldn't spend any time with Edward. 

          "My family has a large family dinner and I would be honored if I could bring you as my date," Edward announced as he covered Lily's small, pale hand with his own larger, rough one. 

          _'I have to remember how I used to tell James no. I have to remember that I can't get myself into this mess again. I have to be strong and I have to do it for myself. I have to do it for James. I have to do it for the two of us. For the possibility of a two of us.' _Lily gave herself an internal pep talk before sneaking her hand from underneath Edward's. 

          "I'll have to think about it," Lily replied as she quickly converted her eyes to a dirty napkin on the floor underneath the table. 

          "Just get back to me soon," Edward replied with another one of his smiles that Lily had grown to know so well. She winced lightly at the sight of another one as she tried to look over towards the table that interested her so much. She smiled as she realized that the table was still occupied by the brilliant colors and turned her head back to Edward who was studying her face intently. 

          "You're a very beautiful woman," Edward began as he once again reached for Lily's hand. Lily quickly grabbed her butterbeer mug and began to chug the drink down her throat. Her insides warmed instantly, causing her to feel a little better, but not keeping her guilty conscious in the darkest corner. __

"What time is the film?" Lily asked, finally after she lifted her head from the now empty, foamy mug. She looked around the room, praying to God that the film was playing soon so that they could leave the Three Broomsticks and go somewhere without any need for a consistent conversation. __

"Oh! It's starting soon! We have to leave now!" Edward exclaimed as he jumped up from his chair and grabbled Lily's arm pulling her out of the Three Broomsticks before she could leave a word at the table, which had occupied her thoughts so often during her very unsuccessful date. She did manage, however, to catch a pair of warm eyes and send a very warm smile in the general direction of the table before being pulled out into the freezing cold air leaving the only thing that brought her complete warmth inside.

          As Edward and Lily quickly made their way through the dark narrow isle to two empty seats in the middle of an isolated row, Lily glanced around nervously and smiled as she found once again that shining red sweater in the back of the theater. She sank down in her seat next to Edward with a small sigh and quickly leaned away from him, trying to get as far away from his as possible. 

          "I think that the theater is very cozy," Edward whispered to Lily as he placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closely to his body. He slid his hand down her arm as her eyes widened in fear. The sound came to life as the previews appeared on the screen. 

          "I have to go use the restroom," Lily blurted out as she stood up quickly, shaking Edward's arm off of her body, she quickly bolted her way out of the theater and into the bathroom where she quickly calmed herself down and splashed water onto her flushed face. 

          _'I need to keep my composure. I got myself into this and I will get myself through this alive or get myself out of it. I deserve this punishment for what I did. It is only fair. Everything will work out okay in the end, somehow it always seems to, no matter how bad the future looks, when I actually arrive there I find that there is some sun peaking around the clouds.' _Lily thought with final smile before she slowly pulled the door open and returned to the darkened theater where the film was just about to begin. 

          "I missed you," Edward murmured into Lily's ear as she felt him begin to kiss down her neck. For a moment she froze until she remembered the promise she made to herself in the bathroom. 

          "Edward stop," Lily whispered, in order to not disturb the other people in the theater, but still forcefully enough to get him to lift his head from her neck slowly and settle himself into his own seat stiffly. 

          After a while had passed and the movie was becoming very dull, Edward leaned over once again and tried once again to get Lily to respond to him. Lily quickly pulled away and this time she stood up quickly before sitting back down. 

          "I told you to stop," Lily whispered very harshly this time as her eyes glared daggers into Edward's. 

          But he didn't. The pattern continued throughout the movie until the film ended. Lily quickly stood up and they made their way into the lobby, she could feel Edward walking very closely behind her and she was becoming angrier by the second. 

          Finally, Lily couldn't stand it anymore. Edward reached for her hand and the final thread that she had been clinging onto snapped. She turned around and faced Edward and yelled, "I told you to stop. I don't want to be touched. I don't want you to put moves on me. I should think that a grown man like you would know what stop means. If you can't figure that out, then I don't think that this is going to work." 

          Edward's eyes widened as he replied quickly, "I'm stopping I've stopped. My hands aren't on you. You said you'd come to my Christmas dinner." 

          "I never said I would come! You just assumed. I said I would think about it that does not mean yes I will go with you. You assumed that, just like you assumed I would go on this date with you!" Lily screamed causing the group of colorful cloaks to watch her with smiles on their faces. 

          "Come on you're just tired. We'll talk about this tomorrow," Edward began as he motioned for Lily to come. 

          "No. I'm serious. I just told you that this won't work and I mean it. Period that's the end; it's final. We are finished," Lily breathed out angrily as she turned and stalked out of the doors leaving a stunned Edward in the lobby of the theater with many people staring at him strangely. 

          "I have to say that what you just did was WONDERFUL!" Arabella exclaimed to Lily as she popped up behind her. The red sweater she was wearing clashed with Lily's red face. James and Sirius soon appeared behind her with smiles on their faces as they all looked back at Edward, who was still standing there in the middle of the lobby wondering what had just happened. 

          "I would've never thought," James laughed out lightly as he nervously turned his eyes away from Lily's and to Arabella who just rolled her eyes at the two of them and shook her head. 

          "What are you talking about? You two have fought for years you know what her temper is like," Sirius teased James lightly as they headed home. 

          "What about we go back to our house for some hot chocolate?" Arabella suggested as she shivered in the cold air. 

          "Sounds great!" Lily exclaimed, finally relieved that her biggest problem was solved and that she was free. 

~*~

          "She's going to kill us if she sees us," Sirius shivered out as he pulled his black cloak over his shoulders to keep out the freezing cold wind and quickly opened the door of the Three Broomsticks and slipped in silently. 

          "She won't kill us," James rolled his eyes as he entered behind Sirius. His hair was messier than usual; the wind seemed to have scuffled with the strands, causing them to stand straight. 

          "You mean she won't kill you," Arabella added as she walked in the door behind James, quickly smoothing her wild hair. She brushed off her red sweater as the three of them made their way to a table, that could not be seen from Edward's view point, but that Lily was sure to spot. 

          "Just drop it," James commanded, as he slumped down in a chair, clearly not wanting to be where he was with the company he was with. He brought a hand up to ruffle his hair and then quickly brought it down to his side. 

          "You know Prongs_—_"Sirius began before he was cut off by Arabella's glare in his direction. James lifted his head to watch the two of them for a brief second and then turned to watch Lily. 

          "He's certainly moving quickly," Arabella announced as she watched Edward snake his arm around Lily, pulling her closer. She then turned her eyes to James, who looked defeated, but yet at the time, angrier than she had ever seen him look before in his life. 

          "Watch her eyes," Arabella whispered in James' direction so that Sirius, who was currently chugging his butterbeer, couldn't hear a word. 

          James just nodded and turned back to Lily who looked extremely uncomfortable. _'She doesn't look happy. She really doesn't. I know now that she really meant it when she said that she didn't like the man. You can defiantly see it reflecting in her eyes. It's there by the way she squirms and by the way she looks helplessly around the room. If only I could read her when I'm around her, but I can't.' _

          "He's going to go get Butterbeers!" Arabella announced excitedly. James and Sirius just turned to her with confused expressions on their faces as if they were asking why she was so excited about that. 

          "Now we can get her attention," Arabella added on with a smirk. 

          "It's not going to work, look at her, she's thinking," James replied, a little pensively, as he were trying to figure out what she was thinking about. 

          "I'm getting cramped from sitting at this small table. I think I'm going to stand up and stretch," Arabella announced to her friends as she stood up from the table and reached her arms up as high above her head as they could go. 

          "She's staring at you," Sirius said simply, at that moment Arabella shot back down into her seat and looked over to Lily with a wink and a smile. Lily smiled warmly back until she was jerked away by Edward reappearing at the table. 

          "I told you she wasn't going to kill us," James replied, without the emotion that normally would have backed up an argument. 

          "Of course she's not," Arabella replied as she gave Sirius a look that told him to keep quiet. 

          "What do you think is going on?" Arabella finally asked James, who had been watching their entire conversation with narrowed eyes, as if he didn't trust Edward to be left alone with Lily, or perhaps, he didn't trust Lily to be left alone with Edward. 

          "I think he's asking her out again," James replied quietly. 

          "Why do you say that?" Sirius asked as he sat up straighter to pay more attention to what was happening. 

          "She has that same lost look on her face as she did last time he asked her out," James answered. 

          "You know, I'm just going to trust you on that," Sirius replied as he rolled his eyes and sank back down into his chair. 

          "Maybe she told him no," Arabella said softly. 

          "She doesn't know how," James replied.

          "He doesn't look happy," Arabella pointed out, "and Lily, she looks very out of place. As if something awkward just happened. Turning someone down in the middle of a date would do that." 

          James just looked at Arabella and then turned his eyes back to Lily and Edward and sighed as he rubbed his head thoughtfully, "Why did you make me come?" 

          "Jamsie, you needed to see that she didn't want to go out with this man so that you stop crying," Sirius replied sarcastically as he continued to watch the drama that was unfolding over at Lily's table. 

          "I think that Lily and I had that discussion already," James mumbled as he quickly shifted his head downward to hide his blushing cheeks and turned to watch Lily, just in time to see Edward cover her hand with his. 

          "James," Arabella warned as she saw James begin to tense up. 

          "You know it's harder to stay calm when she says she doesn't want to go out with this man, but yet she lets him touch her and ask her out again," James whispered, quietly so that no one else would hear but the message that he was angry got across. 

          "You know she's trying her hardest to avoid him," Sirius stated as he continued to drink his butterbeer. 

          "They're leaving," Arabella whispered as she quickly turned her head from the table and looked down in order to avoid Lily and Edward who were making their way towards the door. 

          James looked up at the moment that Lily and Edward were passing the table managing to catch Lily's eyes. She smiled warmly as she was being pulled out the door. _'Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she really doesn't want to go out with Edward. One thing for sure is that she isn't mad at all that we are here spying on her. If anything, she's happy; happy that Arabella, Sirius, and I are here.' _James thought. 

          Arabella, James, and Sirius entered the theater. Sirius and James looked around in awe of what muggles had accomplished without magic. They both glanced up and down the many rows in the theaters and looked at each other questioningly. 

          "Where should we sit?" James asked Sirius. 

          "Wherever you want. Just pick somewhere. What does it matter?" Sirius asked as rolled his eyes at James and pushed him into a row towards the middle of the theater. 

          "You should've just said you'd pick since that's what you did anyway," James laughed out as Sirius smacked him on his head. They were startled out of their argument as Arabella approached. 

          "I think we should sit in the last row," Arabella announced. 

          "I think that right here is fine," Sirius suggested as he pulled Arabella's hand so that she fell into a seat. 

          "No, what if they sit behind us? Then we won't be able to see them. If we sit in the last row we can be sure that we'll be able to see Lily and Edward wherever they are sitting," Arabella reasoned. 

          "Good idea," Sirius breathed out as he bolted out of the row and to the back, not wanting to hear what James had to say about his earlier comment. 

          "Sirius picked the row," James told Arabella as he followed Sirius to the last row in the theater. They picked their seats and sat down only moments before Lily and Edward entered the theater. Lily followed Edward to a row somewhat towards the middle and they sat down next to each other silently.

          "Lily looks happy," Arabella commented sarcastically to make sure that James noticed that Lily looked very uncomfortable and stiff sitting in the chair next to Edward. She had her body visibly tilted away from him and she was trying her best to avoid any conversation. 

          "Edward doesn't seem to care," Sirius added as he watched Edward pull his arm around Lily's shoulders and squeeze her to his body tightly. They watched as Lily's spine stiffened and she seemed to almost shiver uncomfortably underneath his touch. As he slid his hands up and down her arm James grew angrier by the second. 

          "She doesn't act that way around you," Sirius reasoned with James as he watched him clutched his hand around his chair tightly. 

          "You mean she doesn't let me touch her?" James asked angrily as he felt the people in front of him stir as if they wanted him to stop talking so loudly. Arabella motioned for him to keep his voice down. 

          "What he means is that she doesn't edge away from you or look stiff when she's with you. She leans into you as if she wants you to touch her," Arabella comforted James as she smiled at him lightly. 

          _'I wonder if what Arabella and Sirius are telling me is true. Does she really act differently around me when I touch her? Maybe I'm just too dense to notice the difference. I wish I could watch the way she acts with me like I can watch the way she acts with Edward. It would make everything easier.' _James thought. 

          "Where is she going?!" Sirius exclaimed as Lily quickly stood up in her chair and ran up the isle as quickly as she could without a glance in their direction. They heard the door to the theater close as James caught Arabella's eye. 

          "Should we follow her?" James asked Arabella. 

          "No, we'll just wait for her to come back," Arabella answered as she sank back into her chair. Her eyes darted back and forth between Edward and the door as she waited for Lily to enter into the theater. 

          "She's taking forever!" Sirius complained. 

          "She's probably trying to avoid Edward for as long as she can. She most likely went to the bathroom," Arabella rolled her eyes as if Sirius were the most clueless person in the world. 

          "Oh," James replied as Arabella motioned for James and Sirius to be quiet once again. They shared a look and quickly turned back to watch Edward. Then, Lily entered the theater slowly, approached Edward's row, and hesitantly sat down. 

          _'You know it's strange that I care this much. Just by watching Lily I can tell how much she hates being here with him. At least Lily and I have a friendship and if she hates being with me she doesn't show it as obviously as she does with Edward. Still, I can't help being jealous. Here he is out on a real date with her. He's able to touch her and to hold her, something that I don't have at the moment. Even though I shouldn't be jealous, these emotions just jump out at times like these.' _James thought as his eyes widened as he realized what Edward had just started doing. 

          "What does he think he's doing?!" James exclaimed, too loudly, because the people in the row in front of him turned around and gave the three of them warning glares. The three of them just smiled sweetly back and quickly lowered their voices. 

          "By the looks of it, I think that he's trying to kiss her," Sirius teased James causing his eyes to darken considerably. 

          "I know that," James whispered harshly. 

          "She's pushing him away," Arabella commentated as James and Sirius stopped arguing and watched Edward move back to his own seat stiffly. He glanced back at Lily, who was staring straight ahead and not glancing back at Edward. Edward leaned over once again and the process repeated. 

          "You think that he'd get a clue. Lily keeps telling him to stop obviously. He should just realize that she doesn't want anything to do with him and leave her alone," Sirius told Arabella and James. 

          "Doesn't that sound a bit familiar to you?" James asked angrily as his eyes pried into Sirius' defensively. 

          "It's always been different with you James," Arabella said. 

          "Tell me one difference between Edward and me because I can't think of a single one," James commanded. 

          "You're right there isn't one," Arabella replied just as forcefully. 

          _'You know I would've expected them to at least try and come up with one reason. Would it have hurt them to try? I didn't even consider the fact that they would've just given up like that. Some friends I have.' _James thought.

          "Somewhere along the way, Lily developed feelings for you and not for Edward," Arabella said with a warm smile to James. 

          James didn't respond but turned to watch Lily and Edward, who continued the cycle for the rest of the movie. Sirius and Arabella were highly amused with how dense the man was as James continued comparing himself to Edward and realizing how dense he used to be. 

          Finally, the movie ended and the three of them bolted out of their seats and into the lobby where they kept themselves away from the sight of Lily and Edward. Sure enough Lily exited the theater into the lobby with Edward hot on her heels. 

          "I told you to stop. I don't want to be touched. I don't want you to put moves on me. I should think that a grown man like you would know what stop means. If you can't figure that out then I don't think that this is going to work," Lily shouted at Edward as Arabella, James, and Sirius watched with smiles growing on their faces. 

          "I'm stopping I've stopped. My hands aren't on you. You said you'd come to my Christmas dinner," Edward pleaded with Lily as James turned to Arabella with an angry look on his face. 

          "I never said I would come! You just assumed. I said I would think about it that does not mean yes I will go with you. You assumed that, just like you assumed I would go on this date with you!" Lily screamed, causing Arabella, James, and Sirius to smile wider. 

          "So that's what he was asking her in the Three Broomsticks," Arabella winked at James, "I told you that she'd say no." 

          "Come on, you're just tired. We'll talk about this tomorrow," Edward announced as he tried to pull Lily out the door with him. James began to move towards Edward as his eyes darkened but Sirius and Arabella caught the back of his cloak and held him back. 

          "No. I'm serious. I just told you that this won't work and I mean it. Period, that's the end; it's final. We are finished," Lily breathed out angrily. She quickly ran out of the doors leaving Edward in the lobby. Arabella, Sirius, and James just stood there stunned.

          "Now would be the time to follow her," Arabella told James who was just standing in the middle of the room with a stunned look on his face. Then the three of them quickly followed Lily out of the lobby. 

          "I have to say that what you just did was WONDERFUL!" Arabella exclaimed to Lily as she popped up behind her. James and Sirius also came up with Arabella as they smiled at Lily. 

          "I would've never thought," James laughed out lightly as he nervously turned his eyes away from Lily's and to Arabella who just rolled her eyes at the two of them and shook her head. He glared back at Arabella and turned back to Lily and smiled again. 

          "What are you talking about? You two have fought for years you know what her temper is like," Sirius teased James lightly as they headed home. Once again James smacked Sirius on his head, this time he was followed by Lily. 

          "What about we go back to our house for some hot chocolate?" Arabella suggested as she shivered in the cold air. 

          "Sounds great!" Lily exclaimed, finally relieved that her biggest problem was solved and that she was free. James smiled at Lily once again and she caught his eyes and smiled back as they all apparated back to Arabella and Lily's apartment. 

~*~

          "I'll go make the hot chocolate," Lily announced as she appeared in the apartment next to Arabella, Sirius, and James, "James, will you give me a hand?" 

          "Of course," James replied as he followed Lily into the kitchen, ignoring the looks that Sirius and Arabella were sending his way. 

          "I can't believe you guys followed me!" Lily exclaimed as soon as she and James were in the safety net of the kitchen. She quickly put a pot of water on the stove to boil.

          "It was Arabella's idea!" James shot back as he tried to save himself from Lily's infamous temper. 

          "Don't try and pretend like you couldn't get out of it you know that you very well could," Lily replied. 

          "You know that we just wanted to make sure that you were okay," James said softer. 

          "So now I can't take care of myself?" Lily questioned angrily as she advanced on James.

          "I never said that," James tried to edge out of the corner he had gotten himself trapped into. 

          "You implied it," Lily whispered as she suddenly realized how close that she and James were. Her facade quickly dropped as she looked deeply into James' eyes. At that very moment the buzzer for the water went off and Lily and James broke apart. 

          "I'm sorry," James mumbled as Lily backed away. 

          "Thank you," Lily smiled at James as she brought the hot chocolate out of the kitchen to Sirius and Arabella who were watching them with interest. 

~*~

**Author's Note: **Well there you are. Chapter 8 is finished. I'd just like to thank my spectacular betas they are awesome! I love you all...Brenda, Nat, and Manda! 

Oh I have one more thing I have to say. Does anyone want e-mail notifications of when I update since I take so long I figured it would be a nice thing to offer. Plus I've had people review and ask for updates so I figured I might as well offer it to everyone. Either leave a note and tell me or e-mail me. Thanks!

I also love all of my reviewers. I just can't get enough of your comments so please leave them good or bad they help me with each chapter!!

**Loraliant Angelisa Snape: **Hey thanks for leaving that note to replace the ::ahem you know what you did:: You're such a great person always helping me out! Everyone go read her fics cause she's the greatest! 

**Rachel: **Thank you for reviewing!! I'll never stop writing this story I love it to death and I think I have an idea for a sequel but shhh it's not final and I don't want to make promises. Only if people ask nicely! Oh and Sirius and Arabella drive me nuts too but I can't change them that's their purpose! Oh and I know what you mean about being teased I get it ALL THE TIME! Review again please I love hearing from you!!

**carameLisSa: **Yes I'm alive! I'm just busy! And now I'm a basketball star! Haha maybe not but I am on the team which makes me smile. Lily and James will kiss eventually I swear! Just not now. Don't be sad be happy cause you know it'll happen! Hopefully I updated soon enough and that the wait wasn't too painful.

**Ruth3: **Thank you so much! I always love hearing from people who love reading my stories it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I'm glad that you can imagine what I'm writing that's always a good sign for an author. I just updated Four White Walls and I will be eventually again so I hope that the updates were soon enough for your liking (even though I know the answer is no!) Review again!!

**Lily Natalia Evans: **Always play along it takes the fun out of things. Or just ignore them that takes the fun out of it also. Such stupid ideas that work. Gee it's strange to figure out that our parents were right when they told us those stupid things. I have enough problems thinking of my own ideas but if you still need help and you have a plot I'd be glad to help you just e-mail me please otherwise I swear to god I'll forget again like I did this time. Thanks for betaing though you're awesome!

**pokie4389: **Thank you so much for the review! I'm glad to hear you'd wait so long for an update it's comforting that not everyone would abandon me if I got super busy. Not that I'm not super busy right now but even more...which is totally possible. Behind Locked Doors will probably be coming to you next. So be looking out for it! You're so nice to me...lol thanks for reviewing once again! 

**willow23: **I wish that was in my outline but trust me snogging was not part of this and I'm sticking to my outline cause I love it! You're just gonna have to wait and I'll dedicate the chapter when it finally happens to you. I love Chicago too...but I have had longer reviews than that. Trust me I've had some pretty damn long ones. Try again! I love reading such long reviews!

**Anne-Janet: **Thank you for reviewing! I'm so glad that my review made you happy! It made me happy that it made you happy! (Nice to know my scenes are liked) Arabella has her reasons...mostly cause she wasn't in the order in the book...I try to stick to the book with random facts like those. I only change the ones needed for my plot...

**izzybell4life: **Thank you so much for that nice review! I hope that your heart is fixed by now and that I didn't cause too much damage! Haha. If I could remember my outline I'd tell you if I was writing more about the Order but I'm pretty sure that it's in there somewhere.

**angelbud2233: **Thank you so much I'm honored by your review! Im so glad that you liked Joey also I love him he has to be my favorite! I updated finally...and yes it usually does take me a while because I'm juggling breathing, sleeping, going to school, guitar, eating, basketball, dance, and five other fanfictions at the same time. Ugh but I always manage to get it done. Hopefully you've slept okay I'm sorry if you haven't! I'll make it up somehow someday. Ahh I wrote I wrote and I'm gonna go write more soon so I'll stop leaving you a note now!

**lilblondie2182: **Thank you for the review! It's nice to hear that you can relate to Sirius and Arabella, it's always good to have characters who are lifelike. I'm also very thrilled that this is one of your favorite stories! I love to hear that!

**littlekat: **Thank you so much! I've been getting so many nice reviews for the last chapter so now I feel really happy about this story! I can't wait to go write now! Haha Hope you enjoy this chapter!

**smile28: **Thank you so much!! I'm so glad that you like my James and my story! Hopefully I updated quickly...but I know it wasn't very fast. 

**elvencherry07: **Ahh! I'm so sorry about the wait I know I always take a long time but hopefully I'm better with this one and if not I'll try to be with the next one. Anyways thanks for reviewing it was such a nice one!

**NiNaPoP: **Wow I hope you jumped up and down again that was certainly exciting to hear! I'm sure that if you wrote a fic it would be wonderful! If I ever get the chance and you actually write one I'll come read and review it! Don't be jealous of me I'm sure that you can write just as well or maybe better! Hopefully you had fun waiting for this chapter and hopefully you'll enjoy it!

**i o u a name: **So sorry about the long wait. I tend to make people wait a long time I just get way too busy! At least it's good to always hear that it was worth the wait from you! Makes me glad that I can take a while and still get nice reviews! Lily and James are very similar and very clumsy that's just how they are! Haha interestingly enough.

**chewy1: **What are you talking about? I have to finish the chapter somewhere! Lol sorry about ending it there. Hopefully this was at a more...erm appropriate place. Sorry about the wait for the update also...I just get caught up with things. Mostly finals but I updated so be proud of me!

**elegystar: **Yay! I always look forward to hearing from you! I love reading your reviews! Whenever you review you get another chapter. Better remember that this time! Thanks for reviewing!

**kelliethehottie: **You're just going to have to wait and see they'll get together eventually. Hopefully you aren't too crazy to read this chapter and review again! Thanks for the review!

**ShadowFox991: **Thank you so much for the review! I hope that I didn't make you wait too long for this chapter but I know I take a while...but go ahead and tell me.

**Donzabobo: **Thanks for the review and the compliments! Glad that you enjoyed the mix I was a little unsure of if I should allow the story to take that turn but it will be more and more in the upcoming chapters. The way I see it, it's necessary for Lily and James' relationship. Hopefully it was soon enough to get more hugs!!! haha

**Lisa Meunier: **Thank you so much for the review! They'll get together eventually. The only question is when? Haha hopefully you don't give up on me! 

**aurora_borealis: **The chapter was almost 16 pages! This one is about halfway through page 17 so it's a little longer for you. I can't let it get too long. I'm so glad that you love the story! I love your review...so thanks!

**Christy13: **Thank you so much! I love hearing things like that from people it makes me happy! Eventually they will get their feelings sorted out and get their act together but maybe just a little longer...lol you'll just have to see. Hopefully I updated soon enough.

**tom girl: **Thanks for the review! I love your view on the story it's really nice to know that someone feels that way about my writing! I'm flattered! You're so great!! And just so you all know Nat really is awesome!!! Yay!

**Jessy E: **Thank you so much for the review! Wow I'm glad that one person likes how they aren't together already! That's so great you have to be the first reviewer to actually say that to me ::applauds:: James is just too shy and too afraid of rejection to say anything to Lily that comes out a little bit more in this chapter on why. Lily and James' thoughts are generally pretty similar so I tend to stick to just one of them although you do hear quite a few of them in this chapter as you get to see one scene through both of their eyes. Lily's reasons will come out more later on...in the next few chapters and James seem to be pretty much set by now...as I'm hoping everyone understands. Tell me if I need to expand and I will. I'm glad that I'm on your favorites! I'm honored! 

**LENAk: **Thank you so much for the review! Lol cider-crazy you're great! 

**Realmer06: **Thanks for the review! It frightened me at first until I realized it was a good thing that you were angry with me. Haha. But won't you be sad when I finish this story and there's nothing left for you to read? 

**James Potters Girl69: **Don't worry about taking a long time to review you have to wait for me to update so it's only fair I wait for a few reviews! Thanks so much for reviewing though! What fun would it be if they snogged now? Seriously! You'd be wishing that it hadn't happened! 

**Apex: **Thank you for the review! I'm happy you liked Joey I love him! You're just going to have to wait with everyone until they kiss that's the whole point of this story!!

**Windowseat Wonderer: **Thanks for the reviews! This story is my personal favorite as well. I'm glad that you enjoy my long chapters...some people don't and that surprises me...but whatever everyone has different opinions. Arabella is indeed a squib in canon world of Harry Potter, I started this story before we found that out so Arabella is magical here!


	9. Put Your Wand Down

**Summary:** Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate?

**Disclaimer: **I swear that I do not own anything you can bet my story...

**Author's Note:** Hey everyone! I am SOOOO sorry that it took me so long to update. I just got so caught up in school and homework took over my life and I didn't have enough time to breathe much less write. But now it's summer and I have summer school but at least it's only one class and it shouldn't be that bad. Not as bad as the year but I swear I'll update more often. Well, I'll try my hardest at least :) sorry once again!

**Midnightgoddess1**

.....................................................................

**Excuse Me Miss Evans**

**Chapter Nine: Put Your Wand Down**

**By: Midnight Goddess**

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"Mr. Potter, how nice to see you again," announced a sarcastic voice that James remembered vividly.

_'Just my luck. I was worried I'd have to go to Lily and explain why I'm here...and I get him. I already have a pounding pain in the back of my head I don't need one in my ass too.' _James complained as he closed his eyes due to the flashing stars that appeared before his eyes every time he opened them.

"Would you mind explaining to me what happened?" the healer asked James as James was forced to wince from the sound of his voice.

_'Why does she has to have this effect on me? Why does the thought of her have to send my legs to jelly and my mind to mush? Why can't I stay composed?' _James wondered before he opened his mouth to answer.

"I was dodging a spell and I fell," James answered truthfully. Even with his eyes closed he could feel the smirk growing on the healer's face and he could sense the bright color of his cheeks changing rapidly to a deep red.

"Guilt can be distracting," the healer smirked as James slowly opened his eyes.

"Why would I have guilt?" James questioned wearily as he felt the room begin to spin again.

"I think you know what I'm talking about," Edward accused as he glared at James.

"I don't have the slightest idea," James responded quietly as he began to feel the pain coming back with full force.

"Why did you feel the need to turn Lily against me?" Edward snapped at James which caused James to have to close his eyes in order to keep himself from losing his conscience from the blinding pain in his head.

"I don't know what you're talking about," James answered weakly.

"I think that you know exactly what I'm talking about!" Edward began as his voice began to rise. "What did you tell her? Why can't you just accept the fact that Lily chose me and not you?"

James just shook his head lightly unable to respond.

"You bloody well know what I'm talking about!" Edward growled through his clenched teeth as he raised his wand towards James.

"Bloody hell!" Lily shrieked as she glared at Edward through the doorway. She glanced over at James in his current condition and then she turned her fierce glare back onto Edward once more.

"Lily!" Edward jumped slightly at her sudden presence in the room.

"Put your wand down!" Lily commanded.

"I was just preparing to heal him, Lily, it's not what you think it is!" Edward exclaimed quickly as his words slurred together in his haste to make sure that Lily believed his story before James could open his mouth.

"Edward, aside from the fact that I don't trust you've made a complete assessment and know exactly what is wrong with James, I am positive that you are in no condition to be able to heal him correctly," Lily said sternly through her clenched jaws as she watched Edward's icy glare turn from James onto her, where it instantly turned sugary sweet.

_'How is it possible for someone to change their appearance that much in a split second? Edward was glaring at James as if he could kill him that very instant and then the instant he turns to me his eyes appear innocent. That should be a crime, no one should be able to lie like that.' _Lily thought as she felt herself shaking with rage at Edward's tactics.

"That's not necessary. I'm perfectly fine," Edward announced in a calmer, more soothing voice. Lily watched as he let out the air he had been holding in his lungs as her eyes softened against her will as she watched James open his eyes and attempt to stand up straighter.

_'James tries to appear so strong and brave even though it's blatantly obvious that he's in incredible pain. He's not nearly as accomplished at lying as Edward is. You can read James' eyes like a book.' _Lily thought as a smile floated over her face for a second before her eyes turned cold again.

"Edward, I'm going to take him. Send over his paperwork with the nurse," Lily announced as she gripped James' arm lightly and helped him balance on his feet. The two of them walked out of the door without another word. Edward was left in the silent room where the tension and anger was still floating around a million miles per hour in his head.

"James?" Lily murmured once she had James laying down on a table in her office. She was hesitantly trying to figure out what had happened and James wasn't exactly helping.

"Mmm," James moaned as he tried to sit up to face Lily. She gently shoved him back down on the table.

"What happened?" Lily asked.

James didn't respond at first but he could feel the heat beginning to radiate off his body. He tried to force an innocent smile over his lips but he realized that he was losing feeling fast.

_'What can I possibly say that would explain exactly what happened without embarrassing myself too much? I can't tell her that I can't get her out of my head and that she makes me lose concentration so that I hurt myself. I can't tell her that Sirius thinks that I'm doing it purposefully so I can go visit her. So what am I supposed to say?' _James thought as he once again let out a feeble moan.

"I was dodging a spell during training and I tripped," James managed to choke out without looking at Lily's expression, which he was sure was breaking into a smile.

_'At any moment now she'll just break out laughing.' _James thought to himself.

"You need to be more careful!" Lily exclaimed as she brushed her fingers over the back of his head watching him clench his eyes shut tighter than before.

"There was a lot going on today," James offered as a weak excuse.

"I see you here much more than I'd prefer," Lily laughed out lightly as she gently mumbled a quick spell and took a bottle out of a cabinet on the side of the room.

"Well, you know this is my favorite place to see you," James managed to laugh out lightly.

"Drink this," Lily commanded, ignoring James' previous comment.

"It smells horrible!" James exclaimed.

"Just drink it," Lily whined as she watched James slowly open his hazel eyes and look around the room slowly.

"Do I have to?" He asked innocently.

"If you plan on making your headache go away then yes," Lily responded in a motherlike tone.

"Yes mother," James smirked as he shot the glass down quickly and made a disgusted face.

"Well, I can see that you're feeling better," Lily said, more to herself than to James.

"A little," he admitted.

"I'm sorry," Lily finally blurted out as she darted her eyes quickly to the floor to avoid James' eyes.

"About what? I don't hurt anymore," James smiled as he shook his head from side to side, "See! I can do that without crying now."

Lily smiled and replied quietly, "About Edward, James."

James just shook his head still and responded quietly, "It doesn't matter anymore, Lily."

Lily walked into the kitchen with her eyes half closed and a stressed expression etched across her face. She walked straight towards the refrigerator and began shuffling through the contents until Arabella looked up from the Daily Prophet she had been reading.

"What are you looking for?"

"I don't know," Lily sighed with frustration as she shut the door and plopped down in a chair.

"Did you have a stressful day?" Arabella asked as she set down the newspaper with a slight rustle in the quiet air as Lily was assessing the question.

"I had a surprising visit from James," Lily sighed out as she rubbed her temples lightly.

"To declare his undying love for you?" Arabella asked with a tone of normality that made it sound as if it were the most normal thing for James to drop into the hospital.

_'How does Arabella manage to make that question sound so unimportant? How is she able to just blow off the impact of that statement? She can just ask me something so personal and expect me to be able to answer and keep the same composure as her...that can't be possible. How the hell does she do that?' _Lily wondered as she watched Arabella continue to watch her.

"He was injured," Lily finally blurted out, not able to come up with a witty response to Arabella's question.

"So he didn't declare his undying love for you?" Arabella asked again with the same calm composure as she did the first time.

"No!" Lily finally cracked and exclaimed quite loudly.

"You _are_ stressed. I'm just joking," Arabella laughed lightly as she watched Lily tense up even more underneath the added pressure.

"You need to work on adding some humor to your jokes. That's usually what lets people know that you're joking," Lily snapped as she let her head drop to the table and closed her eyes.

"Thanks Lil, I'll remember that," Arabella replied sarcastically.

Lily mumbled something incoherent that Arabella was sure wasn't something she needed to hear about herself at the moment. Lily had taken to rubbing her temples once again and she didn't appear to be any less tense than before.

"Why don't you take a nice warm shower?" Arabella suggested as she watched Lily raise her head.

"That actually sounds kinda nice right now," Lily admitted as she stood up and walked out of the room without another word. A few minutes later Arabella could hear the water running, with a sigh she turned back to her newspaper and forgot all about Lily's testy mood.

"Bella!" Sirius shouted as he and James apparated into Lily and Arabella's apartment, which was rather dark and seemingly empty at the moment. Sirius looked around in a confused manner

"Bloody hell where is she?" Sirius whispered underneath his breath, but loud enough for James to hear. He sent a worried look in Sirius' direction as Sirius began to fidget with the edge of his robes.

"Arabella! Are you here?" Sirius shouted out once again. Once again there was no response or sign that anyone was even in the apartment.

Upstairs a door shut.

"Did you hear that?" Sirius asked James. James simply nodded, the fear that was beginning to arise within him was making it hard for him to open his mouth and speak.

'_There's something strange about this. Something that doesn't seem to make any sense. Arabella told us to meet her here and now the apartment is empty and dark...then there's the door closing upstairs. It's all too creepy to be normal.' _James thought as he looked around the room suspiciously.

"Maybe we should go look," James suggested softly as he too became nervous underneath the silent pressure in the apartment.

Without another word the two friends walked down the hallway towards the sound of the door that had closed. There was a light mist coming out from underneath the door and James and Sirius looked at each other and swallowed slowly.

"I'll go first," James announced bravely although he could feel his heart pounding underneath his plain black robes.

Sirius just nodded in agreement as James bent the doorhandle downwards quickly and silently and took a step inside the door.

"Oomph!"

There was a crashing sound of what seemed like bottles of potions of some sort falling on the ground and sure enough a light, and visible mist of a pleasant scent filled the air around them and with the sound of something being ripped off the wall and glass breaking on the floor, two bodies came rolling out of the bathroom.

"_Lily_?" Sirius asked as Lily and James disentangled themselves from each other and Lily quickly clung to the dark blue towel that was covering her body. James quickly jumped up to his feet and stood a few feet away from Lily and averted his eyes towards the ground.

"Hi Sirius," Lily mumbled as she shoved her damp red hair out of her eyes, and equally red face and clutched the towel to her body even tighter than before.

"Sorry," James murmured as he still avoided Lily's eyes.

Sirius watched the interaction between the two with slight amusement before his curiosity won out the battle, "What just happened? And where in bloody hell is Arabella?!"

"Arabella went to pick up a few things for dinner, she didn't tell me you two would be coming so early..." Lily trailed off as she once again made sure that the towel was still clutched to her body as tight as possible.

"And?" Sirius edged her on as her and James once again blushed lightly.

"Well, you see," Lily began as she looked at James hopelessly for a way to put what had just happened into words.

"I walked in when she was walking out and in a very bad attempt to keep my balance I grabbed onto the counter. Lily had so luckily placed her perfume bottles right where my hand landed so they fell to the ground. Then in another clumsy attempt to jump away from the broken glass on the floor I crashed against the wall where a picture frame was knocking it to the floor also and as Lily tried to jump away from the glass she tripped and we both came flying out of the bathroom," James laughed out uneasily as he looked back into the bathroom at all of the damage.

"It was Arabella's perfume. I don't use any and I most certainly wouldn't put it right on the edge of the counter! I mean honestly, they're in glass bottles. Anyone can just come and knock them down! Arabella should be more careful!" Lily ranted quickly trying to get rid of all of the blame.

"Blaming things on me already?" Arabella asked as she suddenly appeared in the hallway. After a few seconds her eyes grew wide as she surveyed the mess and a bright red James and Lily, the latter who was still gripping the towel to her body tightly.

"I don't really want to know," Arabella decided was easier to say than to ask for details from Lily and James who were looking very uncomfortable.

"Lils, maybe you want to actually put some clothes on and then we can eat," Arabella announced lightly as she turned around and went into the kitchen as if nothing at all had just happened.

Lily and James just shared a glance as they watched Arabella walk off to the kitchen shaking her head and mumbling underneath her breath about having everything being blamed on her. With a small giggle Lily turned and ran into her room quickly closing the door and locking it.

"Come on mate, the food will be out soon!" Sirius announced as he bounded towards the kitchen.

James just shook his head at the mess and allowed his eyes to dart towards Lily's room. He quickly followed Sirius down the hallway without another glance towards Lily.

"How's training coming along?" Arabella finally asked after the four friends had finished a very silent awkward dinner. The conversation had been scarce, basically nonexistent because Lily and James kept avoiding each other's eyes, much less joined in on the conversation.

"It's been going well," James answered in a vague manner as if he were still too terrified to join in the conversation completely.

"That's good," Lily added to the conversation before quickly turning her eyes away as a light blush began to creep up onto her cheeks as the memories of before dinner once again flashed through her head.

"I don't know what James has been drinking the past few weeks at training!" Sirius exclaimed, suddenly ready to get rid of the tension between Lily and James.

"What is that supposed to mean?" James asked quickly as he turned his worried eyes in Sirius' direction.

"It means that it's been incredibly painful and complicated these past few weeks!" Sirius exclaimed as if James were as insane.

"Maybe you just aren't paying much attention," James suggested as he tried to pry Sirius away from the topic of James' mind being elsewhere during training, and also being just as confused.

"James you've gone as nutty as that old woman who lives next door to us who asks the doorknob how his day went," Sirius said in the most serious tone he could muster.

"Just because I don't find something difficult that you do doesn't mean I talk to doorknobs!" James exclaimed as he caught Arabella and Lily laughing out of the corner of his eye.

_'Great now they think that I'm a total idiot. Why do I always have to seem like such a strong, brave man in front of Lily? Why can't I just let her see the real me? Why must I be so afraid of rejection when there really is no chance or a real relationship between the two of us?' _James thought as he finally decided to surrender to Sirius.

"I'd say that you're well on your way to discussing what kind of bread to buy with our doorknob," Sirius laughed.

"I think that you just are too afraid to admit that you find something hard that I don't!" James replied back to Sirius with a smirk.

_'So much for admitting that I was wrong...' _James thought as he lightly shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts.

"You're right Jamsie," Sirius finally surrendered.

_'Finally, this whole conversation can be over and I can be spared the embarrassment in front of Lily. She won't have to think that I'm a wimp and everything will be perefctly fine.' _James thought as he let out an audible sigh.

"Thank you Sirius," James smiled proudly as if he had just won a great battle.

"I mean how could I think that this junk was difficult for you? You only got sent to the hospital once in the past two weeks. But then there were the five times that you got yourself knocked out and had to be revived by our instructor. But I guess that those don't count. Still, I think being sent to the hospital one time has to be some kind of record. I can say for myself that I wasn't sent there, and as far as I know no one else was either," Sirius finished with a smirk.

James couldn't help himself and let his mouth drop open.

_'Please let me wake up and find out that this was all some crazy nightmare that I'm having. Please let me realize that Sirius did not just say that in front of Lily.' _James thought but his face contorted in a grimace of pain as he pinched himself as hard as he could on his leg only to find out that it did indeed hurt and that he was very much awake and breathing.

Lily let out a small laugh, "I don't seem to recall any other aurors in training being sent to the hospital either, at least not during my shift."

James just lowered his eyes in defeat.

"Just admit that you think it's hard James. No one here is going to laugh at you," Sirius said.

"Alright, the dueling is getting more and more difficult to comprehend and I've had a lot on my mind recently," James sighed.

Sirius, Arabella, and Lily all began to laugh.

"Thanks for saying you wouldn't laugh," James grumbled.

"Come on Jamsie, you've got to admit that it was funny!" Sirius laughed.

"It was not funny. Those times I got knocked out hurt!" James exclaimed as he tried to inflict how much they hurt through his voice unsuccessfully.

Sirius kept on laughing.

"_Bad_," James added on in hopes that Sirius would get his point.

"I'm sure they did. Maybe you lost a lot of brain cells when you hit your head and that's why it's so hard for you to remember exactly how hard these concepts are for you!" Sirius laughed out even more.

"Did you really get knocked out five times?" Arabella asked through giggles.

"Oh you should've seen him!" Sirius interrupted before James even had a chance to try and defend the true facts that Sirius was spreading as if it were the juiciest piece of gossip he'd ever heard in his life.

"I can't believe that you got knocked out five times!" Arabella laughed once again. James shifted his eyes back down towards the ground as he convinced himself that he wouldn't open his mouth again that night.

"Here, I'll reenact it for you!" Sirius suggested.

"You don't need to do that," James mumbled but he wasn't heard over Arabella.

"Do it!" Arabella shouted and James once again turned his eyes towards the floor and didn't even make a comment.

"Okay!" Sirius jumped up without another word.

"Stand up James, you're going to be our instructor!" Sirius commanded as he tugged at the corner of James' robes until he stood up off the floor.

"I don't understand why I can't be myself," James mumbled.

"It'd never be as interesting! You'd underplay everything and it wouldn't be nearly as funny as it really was," Sirius explained as he made sure James was positioned across from him correctly.

"Maybe you're just over exaggerating. The fact that I was injured and had to be sent to the hospital isn't really the funniest thing in the world," James rolled his eyes as he saw Sirius begin to laugh again.

"It was funny," he told Lily and Arabella who were watching him begin to reenact the event with eager eyes.

"Okay James, point your wand at me and pretend to shoot one of those curses that we were practicing!" Sirius exclaimed.

"James held up his wand and said in a bored voice, "A spell that we learned in training that day."

At that moment Sirius shouted, "Stop! You have to actually say the spell otherwise it won't be as funny! I know you remember which one it was!"

James sighed in defeat as he raised his wand and muttered a spell underneath his breath that was unheard by Arabella and Lily. With that a blast of gray light burst from his wand and suddenly Sirius was obviously bound and gagged with heavy silver chains.

"Change it now!" Sirius shouted although it was barely understood since he was so muffled by everything that James had shot at him. With a flick of James' wand and a smirk Sirius was free.

"That was _not _the rights spell!" Sirius exclaimed angrily as he once again took his position, "Do the right one."

James pulled up his wand once more and shot out a simple spell that he once again mumbled underneath his breath and watched as Sirius let it hit him in his chest and in an attempt to keep himself standing up straight he put his foot forward, causing him to trip over his feet and fall backwards with a loud crash.

Lily and Arabella began to laugh.

"Is that what really happened?" Arabella asked eager to find out the answer.

"It's a spell that causes you to fall backwards," James explained in attempt to make them understand what the spell was.

"It causes you to fall backwards, but land on your arse," Sirius added to the explanation, determined to make James pay for the spell he had used on Sirius earlier.

"I was trying to standing up!" James exclaimed.

"You must've missed the part right before we did the spell that said it's impossible to stay on your feet once this spell has been administered you'll just fall on your back and hurt your head. That's what usually helps us in the battle, most will try and fight it and even once you're standing and they're on the ground you have an advantage," Sirius added.

"I had a lot on my mind!" James shouted.

"Oh we all know who you were thinking about," Sirius rolled his eyes with a smirk in Arabella's direction.

James just lifted his wand and grumbled the same spell that bound Sirius and let him plop down onto the floor once again in defeat.

"James set him free," Arabella commanded lightly as she watched Sirius struggle against the chains furiously.

"It serves him right for bringing up that story," James mumbled as he flicked his wand and set Sirius free from the chains for the second time that evening.

James uncertainly turned his eyes in Lily's direction. She was laughing at Sirius' hurt look on his face. She allowed her eyes to meet James' and they locked.

_'I can't help but wonder sometimes what she would think if I just confessed to everything that I've been thinking and feeling these weeks that we've known each other.' _James thought as he allowed himself to stay caught up in Lily's eyes.

Sirius seeing his advantage snuck up behind James and quickly shot a spell at his back that sent him flying through the air. James flew across the room and landed in the smack middle of the sofa between Lily and Arabella and before the two girls could stand up the sofa had toppled over backwards sending Arabella rolling into a table until a lamp crashed down inches away from her and Lily and James rolling right next to each other.

Sirius opened his eyes, which he had shut tight once he saw the direction James was flying, to find Arabella stuck underneath Lily who was trapped underneath James' legs.

"Comfy Jamsie?" Sirius asked in a joking manner before he quickly decided to dart the glares all three of his friends were sending him.

"I think it's time to call it a night," James finally spoke as he jumped up off of Lily and Arabella who were still sitting on the floor in shock.

"I can't believe you did that Sirius!" Arabella shrieked as she finally came to her senses and stood up to face Sirius.

"I agree," Sirius mumbled to James and with a brief goodnight they both apparated leaving Lily and Arabella in the living room with an overturned sofa and a broken lamp. The two girls rolled their eyes and quickly set themselves to cleaning up the mess.

Lily walked down the street of Diagon Alley quickly. She had promised Arabella that she'd have dinner ready on time tonight since she kept coming in late every other night that it was her turn to cook. If only James, Sirius, and Remus hadn't insisted that they join her since they needed to get some shopping done. She wouldn't have been kept distracted by their jokes for so long.

_'What is making it impossible for me to keep things straight these days? Why do I always lose track of time because I'm thinking or forget to do things because I'm in a daydream?' _Lily wondered as she once again became unfocused and in her thoughts completely forgetting her task at hand.

"Watch where you're walking you filthy mudblood!"

Lily cringed as she recognized the icy voice. She forced herself out of her deep thoughts to face the man with determined eyes and stood up straighter.

"I see that you are still resorting to the same tactics that you used when you were eleven, Malfoy," Lily spoke in a tone that could freeze boiling water.

"You disgrace to the wizarding world! You don't know what the bloody hell you're talking about," Lucius Malfoy growled out in contempt.

"I know just as much magic and I am just as powerful as you will ever be," Lily announced, loud enough for the wizards and witches passing by to hear. Her tactics caused Malfoy to become more livid than before.

"My Lord doesn't appreciate your stubbornness," Lucius whispered out in a way that sent shivers down Lily's spine.

"Neither of you frighten me," Lily spoke out in a tone of voice that even made herself slightly believe that it was true.

"We'll see how you feel about that tomorrow," Malfoy spat out as he mumbled a spell underneath his breath leaving Lily in the middle of Diagon Alley crumpled on the ground.

  


"Miss?" a soft voice questioned as Lily's eyes fluttered open taking in the dark, musty room with concern.

_'What just happened? Why am I here? Where am I?' _Lily wondered frantically as she looked around the room noting the many tables placed around the room.

"You're in the Leaky Cauldron," the voice came once again. Lily opened her eyes further and allowed them to rest on a young woman a few years older than herself. She had long black hair and warm brown eyes and she allowed a small smile to float over her lips as Lily looked up at her questioningly.

"You were hexed or something by that git Malfoy," the woman once again spoke as she sighed and glanced out the door before continuing, "I swear the fact that I'm related to him makes me want to choke."

Lily opened her mouth as if to say something but decided against it and instead just looked at the young woman questioningly as if pleading her to continue with her eyes. The woman didn't seem to take any notice of Lily's expressions and just continued on talking, "I mean he's my brother-in-law, my fool of a sister married him."

Lily's eyes widened at that information but quickly looked down to avoid the woman's gaze she gently rubbed the back of her head that she suddenly realized was stinging.

"Anyway he hexed you and I saw you fall to the ground. Well, actually I didn't see it, Nymphadora did," the woman smiled as Lily turned her eyes and finally noticed a little girl with blinding blue hair and a pig shaped nose, the girl smiled widely and her dark eyes twinkled.

"Nymphadora! What did I tell you about your hair!" the young girl's mother commanded as the young girl smiled sheepishly and with a very pained expression she screwed up her face causing her nose to turn the exact shape of her mothers and her hair to turn into a muddy brown.

Lily couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer, "You're a metamorphagus!"

"Yes, but mum doesn't like me changing the way I look!" the young girl grimaced as she pulled at her brown hair.

"Nymphadora, I just don't understand what compels you to turn it such outrageous colors!" her mother sighed out as she turned her attention back to Lily and away from her daughter who was glaring into her back.

"How old are you Nymphadora?" Lily asked as she finally pulled herself up into a sitting position. She winced in the pain it was causing her and in turn missed little Nymphadora contorting her face with the mention of her name.

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" she exclaimed.

Her mother turned and gave her daughter a stern look and turned back towards Lily, "She prefers to be called by her surname, Tonks."

"Answer her question dear," her mother once again commanded.

"I'm nine," Tonks bounced happily with a smile, "Only two more years until I can go to Hogwarts!"

Her mother just laughed and then with a start began to apologize, "I'm sorry! I haven't introduced myself I'm—"

"Andromeda?" a family voice questioned as Lily sighed and rubbed her head more trying to ease the incredible stinging.

_'Just when I thought I was going to be able to deal with something on my own without having the them hanging over every single thing I do...' _Lily sighed as she lifted her eyes and turned around to face Sirius, James, and Remus.

"Sirius!" Andromeda exclaimed as she jumped up from Lily's side and hugged the man who had spoken her name just moments earlier.

"Sirius!" Tonks shouted as she jumped up and ran to the man's side just as quickly as her mother had.

Lily couldn't help but smile as she looked around sheepishly trying to avoid James and Remus who were looking at her through very concerned eyes.

_'Here we go. James will tell me to be more careful and I'll feel like an idiot because the second he's out of my sight I get hurt. I can't even walk into a store by myself without the protection of the three men.' _Lily thought.

"What happened?" Sirius asked as he ruffled Tonks' soft brown hair and shot her down a charming smile.

"Malfoy hexed her," Andromeda spoke before Lily even had a chance to open her mouth and get a word in her defense.

"The git!" Sirius sighed angrily as his body tensed.

"I saw it!" Tonks smiled up at the three men.

"What did he use?" James broke in with a concerned voice.

"Good job Nymphadora," Remus smiled down at the little girl who glared right back up at him.

"Tonks!" She shouted angrily.

Sirius, James, and Remus just laughed at the young girl and turned back to her mother as if her mother would know the answers. Andromeda just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Tonks saw the whole thing and told me."

"Nymphadora, are you sure you didn't see what happened?" Remus smiled in teasing the young girl. She glared at him and made a face as she began to walk over in his direction she tripped over the edge of a chair and sent it toppling over and her flying across the floor landing right at James' feet.

"Have a nice trip Tonks?" James joked as he helped the little girl up off of the floor.

She opened her mouth ready to say something smart back, but Lily finally spotted her chance to get a word in the conversation, "How do you know each other?"

"Lily this is my cousin Andromeda, and her daughter Nymphadora, whom I'm sure you've learned prefers to be called Tonks."

Lily nodded as she watched Tonks sneakily kick Remus' foot which didn't go by her mother who scolded the child, "Nymphadora! Don't kick Remus!"

Sirius just stuck his tongue out at his younger cousin.

"Lily are you okay?" James asked as he crouched by Lily and gently touched the back of her head, not missing the fact that she winced slightly in pain from his touch.

  


"Oh! This is Lily," Sirius began to introduce as he pointed down at Lily, "she's James'—"

"Friend!" Lily and James shouted simultaneously.

"Friend," Sirius finished with a smirk in Remus' direction. Remus just snorted and rolled his eyes at Sirius.

"I can just pop into St. Mungos and have someone heal it," Lily said as she tried to shoo away everyone who was fluttering over her making sure that she was okay.

"You should make sure that they examine it," James added with a serious expression on his face as he once again concerned himself with making sure that Lily wasn't too dizzy to stand on her feet.

"Friend?" Andromeda questioned Sirius and Remus who were holding back laughter.

"Girlfriend," Tonks muttered, which didn't go unheard by her mother, Sirius, or Remus. Remus just lowered his hand for Tonks to high five.

"Thank you," Lily mumbled quietly as she took the coffee in her hand and lifted it up to her lips gently testing to see if it was cool enough to drink. Satisfied with the temperature, Lily took a small sip and set it down on the table, immediately putting her hands in her lap.

James just watched Lily intently as she fidgeted underneath his intense gaze.

"I'm fine," Lily mumbled as she lifted up her green eyes to meet James' worried hazel ones. She let out a sigh as he didn't lift his gaze away from her.

"I swear I'm fine!" Lily exclaimed causing everyone else to hold back laughter. Lily just shifted her gaze from James' eyes to the rest of the table. She watched as her friends tried to bite back their laughter desperately.

"What?" Lily finally snapped once her glare didn't make the other occupants of the table stop laughing.

"Lils, no one said anything!" Arabella finally managed to choke out comprehensibly as Sirius and Remus still laughed into their hands.

Lily just growled underneath her breath and turned back to James to glare at him instead.

"I didn't say anything either! I didn't even laugh! Why are you looking at me?" James questioned innocently, but Lily could read in his eyes that he knew exactly what she was glaring about.

"I'm not a child. I can take care of myself!" Lily told James in a matter of fact tone that James regarded seriously.

"I know," James mumbled as he too became aware of the stares that Lily and he were receiving because of their conversation.

"Are we missing something?" Arabella asked.

"What did James say?" Sirius asked with a smirk knowing that James didn't say anything to Lily.

_'Oh great now they all know that James and I are just having a staring match and I'm finally cracking. I'm so glad that I'm stupid enough to be pulled around by Sirius like this. Lucky me, now how am I supposed to cover that I can read what James is thinking like a book?' _Lily shouted at herself in her mind. She rolled her eyes and slumped down into her chair in angry defeat.

"Probably that he wants to snog Lily," Arabella added through her laughter.

"I'm sure Lily agreed!" Sirius replied with an eagerness that made Lily clench her teeth and turn a very deep tomato shade.

"He didn't say anything," Lily sighed out in exasperation and with a start she realized exactly what she had just admitted to.

"So why do you act like he's treating you like a baby?" Remus asked. Out of the three of them, Remus was the only one who was able to keep his composure completely during his turn in the questioning. He just sat there in a very calm manner with his tired gray eyes waiting for an answer.

"I can tell what his thinking," Lily said with a smirk.

_'Why did I just say that? I practically announced to the world that I study everything James does.'_ Lily thought as she mentally slapped herself.

"By hours of studying?" Sirius teased.

'_Here we go.' _Lily thought.

"How else would she know?" Remus asked Sirius in that annoying calm tone that was bothering Lily to no end.

"Maybe I can just read people easily," Lily blurted out with a smile growing on her face.

"Oh so what am I thinking right now?" Arabella teased as she looked at Lily with eyes that suggested that she was scheming.

"I'm not sure that I'm ready to tell the world," Lily mumbled out as she stole a nervous glance in James' direction.

"No, I'm pretty sure that the world wants to hear!" Arabella exclaimed as she continued to watch Lily with her strong gaze that was still strongly suggesting that Lily open up about her and James.

_'She can try to embarrass me as much as she wants. Same with Sirius and Remus, they are not going to crack me and I'm going to succeed. I'll just embarrass them instead. I have to have picked up a few tips by now!' _Lily thought as the wheels began to turn in her head.

"If you say so, Bella," Lily sighed out, as if she was going to admit her undying love for James.

"I say so," Arabella laughed as the eagerness seeped through her voice.

"You're thinking about how much you enjoyed last night," Lily said as if it were the most natural answer in the world.

James turned his gaze from the floor to Arabella and Sirius who were both suddenly turning a deep shade of red, similar to the coloring that James and Lily wore when they were in close proximity.

"What happened last night?" Remus asked curiously, thankful that Lily had decided to leave him out of her retaliation.

"Why don't you ask Sirius and Arabella? They seem to know exactly what I'm talking about!" Lily smiled at Remus sweetly, trying to make sure that he wouldn't ruin her attack on their friends.

"Please say that it didn't happen in the flat," James pleaded with Sirius.

"Not in your flat," Lily assured James as she turned to Arabella and Sirius who both had their mouths hanging open.

"Thank Merlin," James breathed.

"Easy for you to say. You weren't the one who had to walk in on them!" Lily exclaimed as she sent an evil smile in James' direction.

"You didn't have to be prying!" Sirius managed to speak shakily.

"I wasn't prying I wanted water!" Lily exclaimed with a look of childish innocence that even threw Sirius and Arabella off.

"Why were you getting water out of Arabella's room?" Remus asked Lily.

"Arabella's room?" Lily asked as she realized that Remus and James were quickly catching onto what was happening.

"Where were they?" James asked quickly with a smile growing faster by the second on his face.

"I don't think I want to know where or _what _they were doing," Remus said as he contorted his face into a look of complete disgust.

"Oh it's not nearly as bad as you think. Trust me I wouldn't be alive if I saw _that_!" Lily spat out, the smile remaining intact on her face.

"How could you think we were doing that!" Arabella asked with a scandalized look on her face.

"It's Sirius!" James exclaimed in attempt to back up Remus.

"Hey!" Sirius shouted eager to get his word into the conversation.

"You know you made quite an entrance too," Sirius began as he tried to turn the embarrassment back onto Lily, "tripping as soon as you entered the kitchen."

"The kitchen?!" James and Remus exclaimed at the same time.

"You shouldn't be bringing that up either," Lily just smiled at her friends and added with a smirk, "I tripped over Arabella's shirt on the floor!"

**Author's Note: **Hey there everyone! I hope that you enjoyed that chapter it was an endless source of distress for me I swear I rewrote each part of it a million times so that was the delay. I was never pleased :) but I hope that you all enjoyed it! And be sure to tell me what you think because I need to know!!! So please review!

I also want you to know that you can e-mail me for updates :) and I'll send you an e-mail when I update. If you want to contact me for some reason you can always e-mail me cause even though I don't update often I always check my e-mail and respond to each one. Then you can also check out my website Or you can check out my livejournal for fun stuff! I always update those too, the livejournal more than the website, but they're both very exciting!!

And I have to thank ALL of my reviewers! Keep up reviewing you guys keep me motivated and remind me that not everything I write is horrible!

**Windowseat Wonderer: **Hey! I love you for reviewing!!! Last time holidays kept me from updating and this time it was unfortunately the stresses of school, mainly chemistry, which took up so much time and then I had summer school, and I got caught up in all that stupid work. Thanks for the review!!

**Christy13: **Thanks for the nice review! Lily loses her temper a lot, it's that red-headed nature of hers! I never seem to update soon enough but I have the next chapter almost ready so maybe I won't make you wait very long :-)

**ShadowFox991: **Thanks!! I hope that this chapter was worth the wait as well.

**SillyGillie: **Thank you so much! Lily is beginning to show a few signs, but James is the normal dense man, Sorry that I took so long I got super busy. But I have the next chapter almost ready so it shouldn't be too much longer.

**Jaquelyne: **Thanks so much! I'm glad you like the way I added things in, I felt rather proud of myself for putting them in there :-)

**chewy1: **Well, the update finally came after months and months of waiting. So you get to keep reading now and hopefully you won't have to wait too much longer because the next chapter is almost finished. Thanks for the review!!

**Realmer06: **I think obsessive sides are fun! Lily and James are very dense and silly but that does add to the fun of the story, don't you think?

**angelbud2233: **I hope that you'll be able to sleep again now! Thanks so much for the nice review! I haven't forgotten my other stories they'll be up shortly once I get a chance to update. Hopefully soon but I'm on vacation so I won't be here for a while. I'll try and sneak some writing in there somewhere :-)

**izzybell4life: **I'm glad you enjoyed that chapter, I enjoyed writing it. I'm glad to hear it was your favorite! Lol I wanted to go for something new in their relationship. Trust me they'll be more time spent on the floor later ;-)

**pokie4389: **Thank you so much! Lol I hope that I don't cause too much trouble with your school because of when I update. At least now it's summer. Wow, I took forever updating I promise the next one will be much faster!

**Lily Natalia Evans: **Thanks for the review! Did you ever post your story? If you did I'd love to read it and leave a helpful review!

**carameLisSa: **Hey! Thanks for the review! Lol I'm glad you see my point on drawing out the plot. I know that the end was kinda redundant I was debating on whether to leave it in or not but I decided to so that you could see what happened with them during the date. Trust me no more of split scenes though because that's annoying if it goes on for too long.

**Willow23: **Oh my god! Haha that was like 6 pages long! You're crazy! But that was definitely the longest review I've ever gotten so you can rest assured that you hold the record and I doubt that anyone will beat it soon! I'd count them but I think that I might go insane! Haha I can't do it!

**Padma R.: **Thanks! I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter! I hope you aren't too lazy to review this time :-) reviewing makes me update faster...haha I really don't know how true that statement really is. But if you send me e-mails, visit my livejournal or my website I'll always respond...eventually.

**elegystar: **Hey! I always look forward to reading your review! I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter...hopefully I'll get a similar review this time!

**Anne-Janet: **Thanks for the review! I'm glad that the chapter had such an effect on you and I'm glad you enjoyed the ending! It's always great to hear that my story can pull people in like that!

**sports-girl: **Thank you! I never tire of people telling me that my story is original. I'm glad that you liked the chapter and hopefully you enjoyed this one also!

**Lily Kat: **Thank you so much! You'll just have to keep reading and find out when they hook up! It's a secret :-)

**cloak12: **It's very hard to keep them apart but extremely fun to write!!! I hope that this was just as good as the last chapter...I'm sorry I took so long! I feel really bad!

**LENAk: **I'm glad to hear you didn't like Edward, I'd be worried if he was your favorite! I hope your hot chocolate was good when I was writing chapter 8 I was drinking some! :-)

**auroraborealis: **Hey! Thanks for the review! You're just going to have to keep reading and find out when they'll kiss :-) because right now it's my secret that none of you know!!

**oobergoober: **I'm glad you liked the chapter and I hope that you like this one! Maybe this time you'll have something to say ;-) and if not then you should just review anyway!!

**Ruth3: **Thank you so much! I'm really really happy to hear that you like some of my other stories. I'm glad to see that people like more than one of the things that I write! Hopefully I'll be able to update Four White Walls soon.

**MilesFromNormal: **Hey! Thanks so much for the review!! I'm sure that your story is great and if you still feel that it's not I'm sure that it can be spruced up a bit easily!! You know that it'd be no fun if they kissed yet. It's much more fun to wait!!

**Obbsesive: **Thanks for the review! They're very clumsy, I'm really clumsy too. I was running in my friend's backyard and she has potholes and I tripped and went flying through the air. It really sucked because I ripped my jeans bad and plus it hurt!!

**Tom girl: **Thanks! I'm glad to see that you reviewed! Sorry I had to post this chapter before you got the chance to beta it but I felt that I was waiting too long and I should just update it. Maybe we can fix it afterwards.

**tash: **Come on! You know that it'd be no fun if they kissed now and it's a secret when they're going to kiss!! They're both very dense people and I'm sure that eventually they'll get it :-) obviously they must because they did have Harry.

**duva: **Hey! I'm glad you like it and I'm sorry that it's driving you mad but it's so much fun to write and make everyone frustrated! You know that it'd be boring if they'd already kissed. That's what makes my story different! I know what you mean about Sirius and Arabella, I think I'd have killed them already and hidden their bodies...haha jk...

**Magic Mel: **lol I'm sorry but you're just going to have to wait! You know that it'd be absolutely NO fun if they had already kissed you have to admit it! I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to read your story I've been super busy I'm sure I'll get a chance later. You should really send me an e-mail telling me to do that when it gets sent in a review I tend to forget. It takes me a while to update because I have long chapters and I have to edit them, plus send them to my betas and have them edit them and I'm a really busy person sometimes I don't even have enough time to just sit down at the computer and type out stories. It takes a long time to actually get it written out before editing it...sorry I take so long!

**soccer-girl6: **Hey thanks for the review! I'm so sorry that I haven't updated! I feel really bad about it so please review and forgive me!

**angelzsweet90: **Thanks for the review! I'm so sorry that I didn't get a chance to update until now!

**supergirl036996: **Hey! Thanks for the review! I'm sorry I haven't updated! Forgive me!

**FrightninglyObsessed: **Hey thanks for the review! I'm sorry that I'm driving you insane but it's so much fun to write when they aren't together you're just going to have to wait! It'd be boring if they were already together! This chapter is just as long so I hope it makes you happy :-) I'm so sorry I haven't updated!

**limbo-gal: **Thank you so much!! I started the story before OotP so it's alternate universe now but kinda the same I guess. I mention things from the book. Sorry I took forever to update.

**shadowed.phoenix: **Thank you for the review! Haha I'm sorry that I'm an evil author but it's really fun to draw it out and make you wait. Plus it's even more fun to write when they're dancing circles around each other! You're just going to have to keep reading and wait! Your review was so great!! Thanks once again!

**Geets: **Hey thanks for the review! They're getting a little more aware of what is going on between the two but then again they're very dense, proud, and stubborn characters so I don't know how much that's going to help. I'm sorry I took so long to update!

**Unknown VD: **Thank you so much for the review! I'm sorry that I took so long updating!

**littlelady: **Thanks so much for the review! You'll just have to wait and see what happens with them. It's too much fun to write when I draw it out so you'll just have to wait and see when I crack underneath the pressure...except for the fact that it's been planned out ever since I started writing it.

**unknown: **Sorry that I took forever updating! But thanks for the review!

**uNitY ruLz: **Thanks for the review! I'm sorry I took forever updating, I've been really busy! You're just going to have to keep reading and find out when something happens between the two of them.

**cactus jam: **Thank you so much! I'm so glad that I could make you laugh that much! I'm so glad to hear that you're glad I'm prolonging it to make it different! So many people want me to stick them together!! You're just going to have to see what approach I take but I can assure you that this is a comedy :-) and Joey is very cool I might have to consider him being there! Thanks so much for the review it was so nice! I'm so sorry that I took so long to update!!

**Hyena: **Thank you so much for the review! You're just going to have to keep reading and find out when they get together! It's a surprise! I'm glad that you like Joey he's a personal favorite of mine! To answer your question it's just too fun to write them suffering and going through all the interruptions to make them get together now!

**JimsLil-Angel48: **I got really busy and I didn't have time to write the chapter! I'm sorry I took so long! Thanks so much for the review!!!

**marauderluva4eva: **Thank you for the review! I'm sorry I took so long to update! I just got really busy.

**Shichan Goddess: **Hey! I'm glad to hear that you liked it!! Lol I'm really glad actually :-) was kinda worried at telling you at first. Well, hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter too. If you ever actually get that long in reading it. Call my cell phone when I'm gone!


	10. I Always Knew

**Summary: **Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate?

**Disclaimer:** If I had a million dollars I would buy the rights to Harry Potter and all of the amazing characters and then I'd do what _I _want to do with them...but I don't have a million dollars and I don't own them!!! So please don't sue!

**Author's Note: **Well, you certainly didn't have to wait very long for this chapter cause I was very bored and upset one day. And when I'm upset I always go take a short drive pick up some frappuccinos from Starbucks and head over to a good friends house to talk! It always manages to make me feel better :-) Then I come home and after discussing things out I have to write. I don't know why but writing helps me deal with things. So when I have a sudden outburst of updates it's probably because I have emotional issues. But don't go trying to make me mad purposefully because if I get flames I don't update faster! Haha Jk...sorry that's not very funny. That kinda happens when I write a whole chapter in a day and I'm not in the best mood...but hey at least you have one! Lol

I'm sorry for not updating like I had said I would! I know I told some people that I promsied that this chapter would be up on Monday. I'm really really sorry for that! Not to make excuses or anything but just so you know I was stuck in bed all of Monday, my last day of summer, with a 103 degree fever thinking that I was going to die. I'm sick...and now I'm posting because I can actually get on the computer. You know I actually tried too...but was screwed up and I didn't try harder...so sorry once again!

**_Eyeshadow5746_**

.....................................................................

**Excuse Me Miss Evans**

**Chapter Ten : I Always Knew**

**By: Eyeshadow5746**

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"Happy Birthday!" Lily smiled as she walked into the kitchen where Arabella was sitting with a cup of black coffee in front of her face as she tried to pry her eyes open wide enough to at least show that she acknowledged Lily's presence in the room.

"Thank you," Arabella mumbled into the cup as she took another gulp of the bitter liquid and winced slightly.

"You should try sugar," Lily teased as she sat down across the table from Arabella, twice as awake as she should be early on a Sunday morning.

"All I want to try is waking up," Arabella sighed out as she took another swig of the coffee and this time succeeded in not showing her opinion of the taste. If there was one thing she didn't want to do this morning, it was show Lily that she was right.

_'I don't know how on earth that girl can wake up at this time on a Sunday morning and be so awake. It's not a decent hour. Eight o' clock is not a decent hour to wake up on Sundays. I should still be sleeping...' _Arabella thought as she finally looked over at Lily who was smiling at her over her coffee cup.

"You know that Sirius wants to take you out to a romantic breakfast for your birthday. You shouldn't be whining!" Lily giggled out as she watched Arabella make a face at her across the table.

"I'm _not _whining about it! I didn't even say anything except that I wanted to wake up. Just because I'm not fully awake right now doesn't mean that I'm complaining," Arabella shot back at Lily, not even noticing that there was no flash of hurt across Lily's face.

"All those sighs sure sounded like wallowing in your misery to me," Lily sang out as she got up to pour herself a glass of milk and once again seemed to bounce across the kitchen until she landed in her seat across the table from her friend once again.

"I'm not making dramatic sighs. It's all in your head. Why are you so happy this morning anyway? Are you trying to get me to leave so you can get Potter alone over here?" Arabella smirked as she watched Lily cough and slam the glass down on the table.

"No!" Lily managed to say through her coughing.

"Faking death doesn't get you out of questioning," Arabella teased.

"I'm not faking my death! I swallowed wrong. Sometimes that happens when someone accuses you of something that's not true," Lily glared back at Arabella as she swiftly got up out of her seat and left the room in a blur.

"Lils! I was just kidding!" Arabella shouted into the empty room.

When no response came, Arabella finally dumped the rest of the coffee into the sink and just as she was about to walk down the hall-

"Lils?" Arabella asked quietly as she heard someone shuffling in the living room.

"Do I look like a girl to you?" Sirius teased as he came out of the shadows with James standing quietly by his side as if he didn't enjoy the prospect of being in the same room as Sirius, much less standing next to him.

"No," Arabella blushed lightly as she realized that she was still in her pajamas.

"You might want to go put on some clothes," James breathed out as he nudged Sirius who nodded his head in agreement.

"So, Potter, you're not coming with us are you?" Arabella asked.

"No!" James exclaimed as a look of horror spread across his features.

"We're not that bad!" Sirius announced as he narrowed his eyes at James.

"So you're going to stay here alone with Lily?" Arabella teased.

"What? Am I invisible?!" Remus exclaimed as he stepped out of the fireplace behind Sirius and James.

"Hey Remus," Arabella said as the smile she had been wearing fell from her face.

"Sorry to ruin your parade," Remus mumbled as he rolled his eyes at James.

Arabella just laughed and went to her bedroom to change. Before anyone could speak another word, she and Sirius had apparated from the flat.

"Lily?" James called out as the walked down the hall to find out where Lily was hiding.

**...**

"Thanks for today Sirius," Arabella smiled as they appeared at her door, "It was a lot of fun."

"No problem, Bella," Sirius smiled as they opened the door and he led Arabella into her flat.

"It's so dark in here!" Arabella exclaimed as she turned to Sirius with a smirk, "Do you think Lily, Potter, and Lupin left? It looks like we have the place to ourselves right now..."

In a flash the lights turned on and over twenty people jumped out from where they were hidden in the dark and yelled "Surprise!"

Arabella just stopped in her tracks.

"Getting ideas in the dark room, Bella?" Lily asked innocently as she sauntered up to where Arabella was still standing in the hallway stunned.

"What?" Arabella asked as she finally noticed that Lily was standing there with James and Remus on either side of her smiling. Sirius just laughed at Arabella's expression to the whole thing.

"I wish I had a camera!" Sirius laughed out as Arabella finally turned to him and hit him on his head.

"You knew about this?" Arabella asked.

"Well, I couldn't say anything! Lily would've killed me!" Sirius reasoned.

"You let me be so suggestive when everyone was listening!" Arabella growled at Sirius so that no one else could hear.

"Hey, you're lucky that they turned on the lights before you started!" Sirius teased as he poked Arabella's side causing her to just glare at him further and walk off to talk to her guests.

"I thought it was funny," James admitted, but much to his dismay he didn't wait until Arabella was out of earshot.

She sent him a deathly glare and just mouthed the words, "You will pay!"

James just shuddered as he turned to Lily and Remus who were laughing at him. "It's not funny!" James exclaimed.

"I think it's hilarious," Lily giggled.

"I have to agree," Remus smiled.

"You two are hopeless," James sighed as he threw up his hands in defeat and walked off, leaving Lily and Remus laughing the corner.

A few minutes later Remus and Sirius were off in the corner by the punch and Lily rolled her eyes and tried to avert her attention from what they could be doing to the drinks and tried to think about something other than causing the fun to end because of her.

"Looking for someone?" James asked as he appeared behind Lily with two cups of punch.

"Did you just get that?" Lily asked uncertainly.

"I managed to get it before they got over there," James laughed as he gestured to Remus and Sirius who were glancing around the room nervously to see if anyone was watching them.

"I swear they act like they're still fifteen!" Lily laughed.

"I'm surprised Remus is actually helping Sirius with this one," James replied thoughtfully.

"He's been different lately," Lily mused as she took the cup from James' hand and took a sip.

"See I told you that it was normal!" James teased.

"Thank you for rescuing it before they spiked it," Lily laughed.

"I doubt they're spiking it. We're allowed to drink now, there's not any fun in that. I'm sure that they're enchanting it so that it turns you into something," James laughed.

"Well, in that case I better not drink any!" Lily laughed as she smiled up at James.

"Lily Evans!" a young woman around the same age as Lily announced with a smile on her face as she approached Lily and James in the corner of the room where they stood laughing at Remus and Sirius' antics.

"Marlene!" Lily exclaimed as she ran over to her friend and hugged her.

"Hey James," Marlene smiled brightly at James as she looked between him and Lily with a glint in her eyes that didn't go past unnoticed by Lily and James.

"Hello," James mumbled as he made to get away to find out what Sirius and Remus were doing to the punch.

"Was I interrupting something?" Marlene asked with an air of innocence that stopped James dead in his tracks.

"No!" Lily exclaimed.

"I was just going to go find out what Sirius and Remus were up to, they've been hovering around that punch bowl for a very long time and I'm starting to get worried," James used as an excuse as he tried to get away, but before he could make his escape, Marlene spoke again.

"You know, James, I always was rooting for you!" Marlene announced enthusiastically, "I always knew that Lily would come around and you two would get your acts together!"

"We're not--" Lily sighed.

"Dating," James finished.

"Oh," Marlene breathed as a faint blush crept onto her face.

"It's okay," James mumbled as he finally made his way over to Sirius and Remus who were putting their wands back into their pockets.

"Everyone just assumes," Lily laughed awkwardly as Marlene watched her intently.

"There's a reason for that," she said.

"I know, I know. Arabella tells me everyday," Lily smiled as she excused herself from Marlene and went to see what Arabella was doing at the moment.

"Hey Bella," Lily smiled as she appeared next to Arabella and Sirius who were cutting the cake.

"Hey Lils," Arabella and Sirius both mumbled as they kept on cutting the cake.

"Have you seen James?" Lily finally worked up the courage to ask. Arabella and Sirius both stopped cutting and looked at her with big smirks on their faces.

"_Not_ like that! He ran off about an hour ago and I wanted to know if you knew where he went," Lily said in a very agitated voice.

"Did you put the moves on him?" Sirius asked.

"Will you please stop?!" James pleaded as Lily turned around sharply to face him and Remus who were watching her intently.

"I made Remus fix the punch," James responded before Lily could ask where he was.

"Blackmailed me," Remus muttered as he took a slice of cake and walked off, muttering things underneath his breath as he sent looks back at James that clearly showed that he wasn't happy.

"What did they do to it?" Lily asked through her laughter.

"They charmed it so that whoever drank it would lose their ability to speak correct English without insulting someone first," James smiled as he watched Sirius turn pink at the comment.

Lily laughed as she watched Remus, who was still sulking in the corner, and Sirius, who was beginning to look angrier that James had ruined their prank by each minute. "Do you have to ruin everything?" Sirius asked James with a pleading, but yet angry look in his eyes.

"Yes," James smirked as he was going to turn around to leave.

Before James could leave, a hiss was heard from across the room. Remus looked shocked and jumped back. Buddha flew across the room at the speed of light and right into the cake that was sitting on the table. The cake pieces splattered all over James, Sirius, Arabella, and Lily, all of whom afterwards just stood there, stunned, as Buddha hissed once more before jumping off of the table and running into the backroom.

"Your cat just bit me!" Remus exclaimed as he lifted up his red finger in the air.

"If Buddha bit _you _why did she feel the need to fly across the room at the cake?" Arabella questioned testily.

"I dropped my plate on her," Remus smiled sheepishly as he bent down to begin picking up the pieces.

Everyone in the room was watching in shock as Sirius finally wiped the frosting off of his eyes, "Well, I got my piece!"

Lily laughed as she wiped some of the cake off of her face and immediately threw it in James' hair. James just sent a glare in her direction and when he noticed everyone's eyes on Lily and himself he just smiled and turned into the kitchen to walk away from everyone's prying eyes.

"Happy birthday!" Lily smiled as she turned and walked down the hallway to change her clothes. Leaving Arabella and Sirius standing in the middle of a crowded room covered in cake.

**...**

"Sirius! Stop!" Arabella giggled as she walked through the door of Lily and Arabella's flat. Lily sighed as she lifted her head from her book in enough time to see Sirius nuzzling Arabella's neck and Arabella half-heartedly trying to shove him off.

"Lily!" Arabella announced loudly as she picked Sirius' head off of her shoulder and pushed him away from her.

"Are you two planning on staying here?" Lily sighed as she stood up in order to leave.

"James should be home by now you can go visit him," Sirius breathed without a trace of innuendo in his voice.

"Alright," Lily jumped up and apparated as quickly as possible away from the horrible visions that she had just seen.

"I'll have to poke my eyes out," Lily sighed as she looked around the dark flat.

"James? Remus?" Lily called out as she walked around the dark flat and once she was sufficiently satisfied that there was no one at home she walked into the living room and slumped down in a warm, soft chair, opened her book, and immersed herself in it so completely that she didn't hear the slight pop that meant that someone had arrived.

"If you don't give up your wand right now I'm going to make you wish that you had never been born," James breathed into Lily's ear as he reached behind her and grabbed her shoulder tightly.

Lily inhaled sharply and she jumped up pulling her wand out and stealing James' out of his hand and kneeing him before either of them had a chance to realize that it was each other. Lily's chest was rising up and down heavily and she widened her eyes as she watched James on the floor looking quite helpless underneath her wrath.

"James?" Lily asked as she bent down to make sure that it was indeed James sprawled out on the floor.

"Hello Lily," James hissed out through the pain.

"Did I hurt you?" Lily asked quickly as she touched his arm gently with concern.

"What do you think?" James asked sarcastically as Lily drew back slightly.

"You're strong; you can handle it!" Lily smirked.

"You're not a guy; you don't realize how much this hurts!" James breathed.

"It's your own fault for sneaking up on me like that!" Lily exclaimed as her temper began to get ahead of her.

"What was I supposed to do? I'm trained to think this way!" James growled back as he finally got up off of the floor.

"Well, you could've used some common sense," Lily blurted out as she glared at James, who was glaring right back at her.

"You don't live here! How was I supposed to assume that it'd be you?" James asked angrily.

"Are you really that dense James?" Lily asked incredulously.

"Obviously so, because I don't really understand the point that you're trying to make!" James shouted.

"Why would an intruder be _reading _in your flat?" Lily smirked.

"Maybe so that they could catch me off guard!" James tried to reason but losing the battle with his bad reasoning.

"Do you have short-term memory loss?" Lily asked.

"What?!" James exclaimed loudly.

"You caught me off guard! You snuck up on me!" Lily shouted as she threw her book at James' head, which caused him to lose his balance and end up on his back on the floor, staring up at Lily with a fear in his eyes that registered in his brain.

"Oh James!" Lily finally managed to choke out as she bent down to see if he was okay once again.

"Are you planning on attacking me again?" James asked lightly as he turned his wide eyes up to meet Lily's.

"No," Lily smiled as she brought her fingers up to his forehead to check the cut there.

"I didn't realize that my book would knock you down onto the floor!" Lily laughed as she raised her wand to fix his forehead.

"That's what happens when you throw a dictionary at someone," James smirked as he ran his fingers across the now healed cut.

"It's not a dictionary. It's barely 300 pages," Lily laughed.

"It felt like a dictionary!" James exclaimed as he stood up and with a wave of his wand he lit the apartment so that there were no more uncertain shadows in the room.

"See if you'd have done that we wouldn't have had this mess," James teased.

Lily just glared at James as she picked her book up off of the floor and resumed reading.

"What is that book about?" James asked as he looked at the cover.

"Old fashioned healing charms. I was trying to figure out if they'd be more effective than the methods that we use today," Lily smiled.

"If they were more effective would they have switched to newer charms?" James laughed as he watched Lily roll her eyes in his direction.

"Of course they would've. No one ever pays any attention to what's more effective. They just want the modern way. Do you realize that it's extremely hard to get hired if your basis is the older healing charms?" Lily asked.

"No," James finally spoke.

"So, as far as I can tell, these charms are probably better than the newer ones. You see, if I had used a charm that they use at St. Mungos on your head, there would still be a light scar. With these charms, there isn't a noticeable scar. At least not that I can see," Lily smiled as she ran her fingers across James' forehead.

"Why do you think they switched?" James asked as his breath began to become shallower under Lily's light touch.

"People are under the impression that newer is better," Lily spoke with a sad smile across her lips.

"Nothing's wrong with the past," James mumbled.

"Of course not, and sometimes older is better. Sometimes you need to relive the past," Lily smiled as she watched James intently underneath a shy gaze.

"LILY! JAMES!" Sirius shouted as he burst into the room with a large smile plastered on his face as soon as he saw the two of them sitting on the floor next to each other.

"What?" James asked crossly.

"No need to be rude; I didn't mean to interrupt your moment," Sirius rolled his eyes as he watched the two of them begin to stand up and move towards the door.

"What were you two doing on the floor anyway?" Sirius asked, as if he expected them to say that they were snogging.

"James attacked me," Lily smirked.

"Way to go Jamsie!" Sirius cheered.

"Sirius! You have a one track mind!" Lily exclaimed as she slapped his shoulder with her book.

"Lily shouldn't be telling the story. She left out the part where she kneed me!" James exclaimed as he let a flash of pain go across his face, "Then once she realized it was me, she threw her book at me!"

"It wasn't because I realized it was you! I threw it at you because someone had to knock some sense into you!" Lily shouted.

"Don't get her started, Sirius, or you'll be dead," James whispered as he moved to leave from the room. Sirius just watched Lily with wide eyes as he finally mumbled a quick goodbye and ran out of the room.

Lily laughed lightly to herself as she apparated out of their flat and back into her room where she plopped down onto her bed to finish studying the old version of healer charms. She quickly found that she couldn't get her mind off of the past events of her day.

"Sometimes you need to acknowledge the past," Lily smiled as she rolled on her back and continued to stare at the ceiling.

**...**

Lily walked out of the kitchen with a towel in her hair and a bowl of muggle cereal. She was humming slightly to herself while concentrating on the bowl and not spilling the milk over the side. Since she wasn't watching where she was going, she failed to notice Remus, who was standing with his back to her, talking with James and Sirius. In just a second, Lily was on her back covered in milk and cereal pieces and the three men were staring at her as if she were insane.

"Hello Lils!" Sirius exclaimed, "How's the weather down there?"

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked as she picked herself up off the ground and repaired the bowl with a wave of her wand.

"We're here to visit our favorite girl in the whole world!" Sirius smiled as he winked at Lily.

"Thank God," Lily sighed, assuming they were talking about Arabella, as she turned and walked past the kitchen.

"Okay, James' favorite girl," Sirius added as Lily stopped in her tracks.

"Sirius," She warned.

"Come on, Lils!" Sirius pleaded.

"Can't you get Arabella to entertain you?" Lily asked rudely.

"She's got to go and report something," Sirius whined.

"Can't the three of you go make trouble somewhere where I don't live?" Lily smirked.

"We just wanted to know if you wanted to come bother people with us at Diagon Alley!" Sirius invited her happily.

"Do you not remember what happened to me last time I went there with you guys?" Lily asked as if it were the stupidest thing in the world to ask her to go somewhere with them again.

"That was your own fault!" Sirius exclaimed as he received glares from everyone else in the room.

"How?" Lily breathed heavily.

"You said, and I'm going to quote, 'leave me the bloody hell alone! I need to actually get something done!'" Sirius smiled as Lily just scowled at him.

"Sirius," Remus sighed as he tried to stop Sirius from bothering Lily even further.

"Have fun on your own then," Sirius sighed as he turned to leave with Remus following quickly behind him as if to make sure he wasn't going to turn around and change his mind.

"I'm going to use the loo quickly, I'll meet you there," James spoke quickly. Remus nodded his head and he quickly nudged Sirius and they both apparated out of the flat leaving James and Lily alone in the quiet room.

James watched as Lily shuffled to the kitchen and let out a sigh. Lily turned her head slightly and watched James before she finally worked out the courage to ask James what was wrong.

"James, is everything okay?" Lily asked in a very soft voice that caused shivers to go up and down James' spine.

"Yes," James sighed out once again as he moved towards the door to the loo. Lily took another step closer to him before she decided against it and turned and went back into the kitchen.

A few minutes later the door opened and James walked out with his eyes still downcast slightly. He sent a glance in Lily's direction before turning his head and moving to walk out of the flat.

"James!" Lily suddenly spoke but it was too late. James slipped in the milk that Lily had been meaning to clean up since Sirius and Remus left. Before James knew what was happening he was sliding across the floor and he landed at Lily's feet. Unfortunately, he didn't quite stop there causing Lily to topple over backwards with his weight and with a loud and painful crash they fell onto the table breaking one of the legs off and causing them to fall onto the floor in a sea of wood pieces.

"Ouch," Lily finally spoke as she sat up and rubbed the back of her head slightly.

"I'm sorry!" James exclaimed as he sat up and made sure that Lily wasn't hurt too badly by his actions.

"You should watch where you're going," Lily smirked as she stood up and surveyed the mess.

"You should've cleaned up the milk when you spilt it," James told Lily in a commanding tone that made her grin lightly at him and turn her head back to the table that was now broken and slightly scattered across the floor.

"We actually broke a table," Lily laughed out as if the idea were too hard to believe.

"I didn't even know that was possible," James smiled.

"Well, if you weren't flying through the air at such a fast speed--" Lily teased as she began to walk towards where her wand was lying on the counter a few feet away. However, she didn't listen to her own advice and before she knew what was happening she had tipped over a piece of the broken table and slammed into the counter, causing a bunch of plates to fall out of the counter and scatter shards of glass across the floor around her.

"Lily! Are you alright?" James exclaimed quickly as he flicked his wand and cleaned up the glass shards off of the floor and safely made his way over to Lily's side.

"I can't believe that just happened," Lily laughed out even further.

"I don't think it's that funny!" James exclaimed as he looked around the kitchen, which was a mess at the moment.

"Arabella is going to be so mad when she gets back!" Lily sighed as she looked around the kitchen.

"I'll help you fix it up," James sighed as he looked around the kitchen sadly, not exactly happy about his choice of way to spend the afternoon, but the second he met Lily's eyes which had lit up at his offer he smiled and finally thought that maybe it wouldn't be that bad after all.

"James?" Lily asked timidly after a few minutes of awkward silence as they began to try and clean the mess that had been the kitchen.

"Hmm?" James responded as he tried to keep his mind on the task at hand and trying not to accept the fact that he was failing miserably.

"Why are you so upset this morning?" Lily asked finally as she stopped picking up the splinters of wood and looked over at James to watch his expression.

"I'm not upset," James lied.

"Yes you are!" Lily insisted.

"It's not that important," James finally gave in as he tried to avoid Lily's eyes that were filled with a concern for him.

"Yes it is. I think that the fact that you aren't happy is pretty important. Would you tell Sirius, Remus, or Peter that it wasn't important if they were upset about something?" Lily asked gently.

"No," James admitted as he finally stopped cleaning and looked up at Lily.

"Come on James! It can't be that personal. It's not like you're madly in love with someone," Lily teased.

_'If he says yes, I think I'm going to have to go drown myself in the toilet before I can hear what blonde bimbo he's head-over-heels with. It's my own fault for not making my move when I could but you can't help being jealous.' _Lily sighed as she glanced at James who was staring at her with wide eyes.

"Oh," Lily breathed.

_'Oh God...' _Lily thought with a small sigh.

"It must be personal. You don't have to talk about it with me," Lily finally smiled at James as she began to stand up and move towards another part of the kitchen away from James where he wouldn't be bothered by her nosy questions any longer.

"It's just that she's so perfect and wonderful," James smiled at Lily, who suddenly shifted and squirmed underneath his comments.

_'Oh no! She doesn't think I'm talking about her does she? What if she already knows? I mean Sirius has probably told Arabella and I'm sure she's told Lily. I'm probably making her uncomfortable. This is just stupid!' _James thought as he turned back to his work without saying another word.

"It's okay," Lily finally spoke, "You can talk about it if you want to. I'll listen."

James smiled in relief. '_Thank you! She doesn't know that it's her. I'm free to see what she thinks I should do and get her opinion of this stupid, stupid mess that I've gotten myself into by being such a total coward.' _

"You know when you can just tell that you are meant to be with someone?" James asked Lily, who blushed underneath his gaze and turned her head to the ground.

"Yes," Lily admitted as she busied herself with something, she wasn't even sure of what it was.

James smiled uncertainly, "Well, you see, I've fallen in love with this amazing, perfect, beautiful girl and I don't know how to tell her."

Lily sighed loudly before she realized what she was doing. She quickly blushed and turned her gaze back to the monotonous job at her fingertips and pretended as if she hadn't heard herself sigh or what James had just said.

"Lily?" James asked quietly.

"Yes."

"What do you think I should do?" James asked.

"How long have you known her?" Lily questioned.

"For years, but I've only just gotten to know her recently," James responded as he tried to see if Lily was catching onto what he was trying to tell her.

"Were you friends?" Lily asked.

"No," James laughed.

"Are you now?"

"I think," James responded as he watched to see if Lily would realize.

_'And girls say that men are dense. If Lily isn't picking up on this now she really doesn't even think of us that way and therefore isn't considering herself a possibility for me to love her. It's not like she's in love with me and is in denial. That's just a stupid idea that Sirius conjured in his head.' _James smiled.

"How can you not know?" Lily asked him with a frown etched across her face.

"Well, by my standards, we're very good friends," James quickly corrected his statement.

"Your standards?" Lily asked once again becoming puzzled by James' roundabout way of answering her questions.

"I don't know how she sees our friendship," James admitted softly.

"Well, I'm sure that if you do things together and talk she considers you a friend," Lily smiled comfortingly at James without a hint that she knew whom he was talking about.

"I guess, but you never really know," James sighed.

"Do you consider me your friend?" Lily asked without much confidence in her voice.

"Of course! One of my best," James smiled brightly as Lily returned it quickly.

"Is your friendship like ours?"

"Exactly," James breathed.

_'Damn. A girl who has the exact same relationship with James, and who doesn't realize that she's the luckiest girl in the world to have James that in love with her. That girl must be dense to not read the signs. I'm sure he shows how much he loves her. You can read James' eyes like a book.' _Lily thought with a bittersweet smile etched across her face.

"Why hasn't anything happened?" Lily asked as she finally felt herself let out a breath she had been holding inside herself.

"I don't know how she feels," James responded as his eyes met Lily's as if he were pleading with her to answer his question.

_'I'm the worst person to come to for advice for this sort of thing why does he have to act like I'll have all the answers? Why does he have to look at me that way?'_ Lily asked herself as she looked down at the floor before looking up once again to meet his soft hazel eyes.

"How are you going to find out if you don't ask?" Lily asked with a slight trembling causing her voice to shake lightly.

"How can you expect me to put everything on the line like that?" James asked as if that were the stupidest thing that Lily could've asked James at the moment. She appeared to be taken aback by his outburst but when he looked again she was watching him just as calmly as before.

"Sometimes you have to take risks to gain something important!" Lily exclaimed passionately.

"Lily, you don't understand," James sighed.

"What don't I understand?" Lily asked crossly.

"I'd risk my life for her. I'd risk everything that I own. You have to realize that I can't risk my friendship!" James managed to speak calmly.

"James--" Lily began.

"If I couldn't at least have my friendship with her I don't think that I could go on living. I need her in my life!" James explained with raw emotion evident in his voice.

"The real question is how long can you live with only being her friend? Could you watch her date another man? Kiss another man? Marry another man?" Lily found herself edging James on and trying to tempt him to confess to the girl.

_'Why am I doing this? Why am I allowing myself to be hurt this way? Why am I telling James to confess his love to the girl? How did I get myself into this bloody mess?!' _Lily wondered.

"Lily--" James began, but he was interrupted.

"MERLIN! WHAT DID YOU TWO DO IN HERE!?" Arabella shrieked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Please tell me it's what I think it is," Sirius smirked.

"I don't even want to know why you want to know about that," Remus sighed as he looked at Sirius in complete disgust.

"I thought you were at work," Lily mumbled towards Arabella.

"I was, but I found these two troublemakers in Diagon Alley and I asked them if they wanted to come over for lunch. I guess you and James can't make fun of Sirius and me for being in the kitchen anymore," Arabella smirked.

"We weren't--" Lily began.

"She spilt milk--"

"I really should've cleaned it up, but you know me!" Lily laughed.

"I wasn't paying attention," James admitted.

"He slipped--"

"She wasn't watching--"

"The table--"

"Is not sturdy!" Lily and James finally finished together.

"I didn't understand anything," Remus finally spoke before Arabella and Sirius had regained their composure once again.

"I see you two made a real dent on cleaning up the kitchen," Arabella laughed.

"We tried!" James smirked before Lily had a chance to explain.

"Don't even bother," Sirius joked as he shoved Lily and James out in the hallway and began to flick his wand about the room.

**...**

"I don't know what you two did to that table but I could not get it to repair!" Remus explained as the five of them sat down on the floor to eat.

"We didn't do anything to the table," Lily responded defensively.

"You broke it," Arabella rolled her eyes at Lily who just stuck out her tongue in her direction.

"Lily, do you want to help me with the drinks?" Arabella asked Lily, who stood up to help her friend without noticing the smiles she was sending in her direction.

"What really happened?" Arabella asked as soon as the two of them were safely in the kitchen and out of earshot of the three men sitting on the floor eating sandwiches.

"What James and I told you is what seriously happened. If we were snogging we certainly wouldn't be in the kitchen! I, for one, know how damaging doing that can be to poor innocent souls who happen to share the flat," Lily mumbled angrily.

"Okay, I get it!" Arabella growled.

"How could you really think that we'd be doing _that _on the table in here when we aren't even dating!" Lily finally blurted out as Arabella began to pour pumpkin juice into cups.

"You two are obviously head-over-heels for each other. You obviously won't start dating before you snog. You're going to snog and then start dating. That's just how it happens when people are as stubborn as you are," Arabella reasoned with Lily.

"We are not stubborn! Just because we aren't snogging and you think we should be doesn't mean that we're stubborn!" Lily exclaimed.

"Of course not, but you two obviously want to and you're not. That makes you either stubborn or afraid, take your pick," Arabella smirked as she set down the pumpkin juice and turned around the face Lily.

"He's in love with someone, Bella," Lily finally managed to croak out.

"Yeah, you," Arabella smiled happily.

"No, he told me today when we were attempting to clean up the kitchen that he was in love with this perfect girl and he didn't know what he should do," Lily explained.

"Why is that so upsetting if you aren't in love with him?" Arabella teased.

"Bloody hell, Arabella! You are the most annoying person in the universe!" Lily exclaimed loudly. Causing the conversation from the other room to become silent.

"We're okay," Arabella snapped and the three men began talking again. Arabella turned to Lily and glared at her.

"I have a good point and you know it," Arabella finally spoke.

"Okay, fine," Lily surrendered but kept on talking so that Arabella could not acknowledge her defeat, "but he's still in love with this perfect girl and so I basically told him to risk their friendship and take a chance with her!"

"And you two weren't snogging?" Arabella asked calmly.

"No! Are you listening to anything I'm telling you?" Lily asked angrily.

"Of course I am! What did he tell you about their relationship?" Arabella finally asked Lily.

"He said that they've known each other for a long time, and that they weren't friends before, but lately they've been friends. Well, at least he thinks they're friends. He said they had a relationship exactly like ours," Lily sighed.

"Have you known James a long time?"

"Yes, since we were eleven. Arabella you know that!" Lily said animatedly.

"Were you friends at Hogwarts?" Arabella asked.

"Were you alive then? We hated each other!"

"So you weren't friends. Are you friends now?" Arabella questioned.

"Yes, of course we are. Don't you think so?" Lily asked tentatively.

"So basically you've known each other a long time, you weren't friends before, but you are now and you have the same relationship as him and that other mystery girl. Sound familiar?" Arabella asked.

"That can't be possible," Lily said with wide eyes.

"Anything's possible, Lily. And this anything happens to be true."

**...**

**Author's Note: **Hey everyone! I loved this chapter I got it out in a matter of hours! I hope that you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was extremely fun to write!

I have to thank my amazing betas who go through these extra long chapters for you all! So lets give a big thank you to Brenda, Natalie, Manda, and Emily!

If anyone needs to contact me you can IM me on my AIM sn which is eyeshadow5746 or you can send me an e-mail. I'm pretty much always online and I check my e-mail constantly so you'll get a response quickly that way.

If anyone wants an e-mail notification on when I've updated you can just leave your e-mail address in a review or tell me over IM or send me an e-mail and I'll notify you by e-mail when I update chapter 11! It's as easy as that!

If you want you can visit my livejournal. I always put up sneak peaks of upcoming chapters and I say where I am in the writing process...don't you all want to know what's going on in my life and the upcoming chapters? I think you do! So you can check it out and leave some comments if you wish! I love hearing from everyone! My username is eyeshadow5746 )

Then there's always my website. That has lots of fun stuff including contact information, all of my fanfictions are posted along with spoilers and upcoming stories. Plus I have original fiction and a what's happening section that lets you know what's happening with my stories. It's under construction right now but there's still some stuff there. You should go check it out! )

And last but not least I have to thank everyone who reviewed! You guys really are the greatest! I love you all!

**Ruth3: **Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you liked Lily putting Arabella and Sirius in their places. It was about time! Hopefully this chapter made you laugh as well! I didn't take too long to update either! It was very quick for me!

**Seffie: **I have an idea of how happy you were! Probably just as happy as I was to actually be posting!! I can't believe I took that long! I LOVE this story and it's my absolute favorite of everything I've ever written. Lol send my apologies to your neighbors...in case you woke them up again ;-) Thanks for reviewing!!

**angelbud2233: **I had a WONDERFUL time on vacation! I don't know if that's how much fun you had reading it but I hope so! I'm so glad you liked the chapter and that you liked how Lily showed Sirius and Arabella who's boss! Haha I loved that part. Thanks for reviewing!

**Jaquelyne: **Haha I'm glad you enjoyed that part. It was one of my favorites to write! I'm glad that you felt it explained Sirius, I felt the same way! Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad to be back too!

**cactus jam: **You're welcome. I was making myself angry for not updating! I can only imagine how annoyed everyone who was actually reading it must've felt. I'm glad that you liked the events of the chapter. :-) I'm also happy to hear that you liked Lily showing Sirius and Arabella who's in charge! Everyone was happy with that scene I'm glad I went against my outline and wrote it!! Thanks so much for reviewing! I put my favorites up. That's not all of them but those were the only ones that I could remember and that were on so I guess that'll work for now!!

**FrighteninglyObsessed: **I'm glad to hear it made you happy! That makes me happy! Lol I know what the squishy feeling is ;-) it's the same feeling I get when you review! Lol hopefully the update was quick enough for everyone. It's certainly faster than I usually update.

**holly-evans: **Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad that you love my story! I updated sooner this time but I can't guarantee this speed for all the chapters. Things tend to get hectic or I get writer's block. Either way it just doesn't get done.

**Realmer06: **Lol I'm glad that you're admitting I'm right! Lily did manage to get back at Sirius and Arabella very nicely! I'm very proud of that scene! I know from experience that when you mention something people totally give it away. It's so much fun!

**Shoved Offspoon: **Thanks for reviewing!! It did serve them right, and the two of them totally deserved it!

**izzybell4life: **I have to have Edward there to add tension. There has to be some drama to keep the plot moving! Plus it's so much fun to have someone who's not all obsessed with Lily and James being in love in a good way. That's not always the case...haha Malfoy was there for the same reason...has Edward retired now? You'll just have to find out! You have the right to be happiest about seeing whoever you like most! I love Remus I had to bring him back in...as well as Tonks and Andromeda! They're all so cool! Thanks for reviewing!

**pokie4389: **Yeah, I'm guilty! I changed my name! Thanks so much for the review! You've got it...there'd be no story. Sometimes you just want them to get together...even I have the urges...but I have to resist! I posted super fast...well super fast for me!

**shrk-bait: **Thanks for the review! I'm really happy to hear that you love it! I updated really soon for me!!

**Lily Natalia Evans: **Yeah I took forever to update last time!! I didn't take nearly as long this time, I was actually rather quick for me! Thanks for reviewing! They'll be together soon...this story is winding down. It's declining, which is really very sad.

**misakichi1: **Thanks for the review! I updated as soon as I could...and it was really fast...for me!

**chewy1: **Thanks for reviewing! I'm happy to hear you liked Lily turning around the embarrassment. That was my favorite scene of the chapter! This chapter came out pretty soon-for me at least!!

**MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus: **Thanks for reviewing!! I enjoyed all of them! I'm glad to hear that you loved it! It does take a while to read, it's around 16 pages like all of the other chapters. This story's really long! Nothing happens between the two of them...at least not yet...haha you're just going to have to wait! I have to say that I'm glad you think my story is original...I love hearing that people think that it's different from the other stories out there! And I'm also honored to be on your favorites lists! I wrote more and I updated pretty fast for me!

**onesmartgoalie: **Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like the story! More came pretty fast for me...and it should be coming eventually...but don't take that seriously.

**LENAk: **I am back! And I'm very happy to be back! Thanks for reviewing! Computers act stupid very often, don't they? Mine certainly does! ALL THE TIME! Ugh I swear to God I'm about ready to throw it out the window some days!

**carameLisSa: **Hey! Thanks for reviewing! I've updated a lot of my stories recently. At least they've all been updated and I've had so many nights with such little sleep and now I'm so happy to actually rest. This story has 17 chapters and no more or no less! That's when it's going to end! I can't tell you how it's going to end because that'd ruin it for you and everybody else! You'll just have to keep reading and find out how it ends! Lily really did need to get some revenge on the two of them. They deserved it! Remus will probably be in it more! He's so cool. I love him! And I did update soon! At least for me.

**jimithang: **Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad to hear how much you like the story!! I'll be looking forward to you reviewing again!

**reena-blue: **Thanks for the review! I'm glad that you liked it...I hope you got around to reading more of it! I know the chapters are really long.

**oobergoober: **Hey thanks for the review! I'm glad to hear you liked it! But I'm sad you don't have anything to say. And I have to add that migraine suck I get them ALL the time! Okay, well not really anymore, but I totally used to. Making you wait 7 months is very mean, which is why I didn't do it again!

**ShadowFox991: **I'm glad that you felt it was worth the wait! They're going to get together! It's not that much longer!! I promise!

**Potterschick: **Thanks for reviewing! Do they really die at the age of 21? I thought they were a little bit older. Cause they get out of Hogwarts at 17, they have to get jobs and get married and have a baby...and all that in 4 years. Wow. If that's so then I screwed this one up!! Haha well, they're taking a while but hey it's all part of the story. If they were together now the story wouldn't be nearly as fun!

**Luver19: **Well, you're on my e-mail notification list, as you've probably figured out! I'm glad to hear that my story makes me smile! I love hearing that! Thanks for reviewing!

**Angelina Radcliffe: **I'm glad that you liked Joey! I love that kid. He'll be back I promise. I have the whole story planned out! And he's not going anywhere.

**Imscble: **Thanks for reviewing! Lol-they'll get together soon! I promise it's not that much longer! I updated really fast...for me at least!

**Windowseat Wonderer: **Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm glad that you love it! Lily's friends think too much about her and James and Lily showed them their place at the end of the chapter. That had to be my favorite scene in this chapter. I loved writing it! I updated really fast...I wasn't very busy this week even though I should be doing summer reading! Oops.

**rachel132: **Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm glad to see that you liked it! They'll be together soon! You all just need to wait for a little while longer!

**James And Lily 4eva: **Thanks so much for the review! I'm glad that you like it! I updated pretty fast for me!

**soyamonkey: **I'm glad you liked the ending! I loved writing that scene!

**aMeLiA-cHiCk: **Thanks for the review! I'm glad to hear that you love the story! Oh you know the distractions are lots of fun and if they weren't there you'd miss them and the story would suck! I updated pretty fast for me...at least I did this time!

**Brilover: **Thanks so much for the review! I'm glad that you enjoyed it! Wow 3 times is a lot but whatever makes you happy! I'm glad you can read it that many times and still like it! Yay! That makes my day. Well, this one came out fairly quickly, as for the next one. I have no idea.

**Hyena: **Lily DID get revenge. That scene was just really happy and fun to write! She had to get back her pride somehow. Haha I'm not sure how much of a role Edward will play in the rest of the story...either that or I don't want to tell you! haha but I can tell you that if they got together then there would be no point to the story! It's all about this fun! Thanks for reviewing!

**Ashes: **I tried! It's faster than normal. I've taken 6 months before...after that everything's fast! Thanks for the review!

**loser-me-ushi: **Thank you so much for reviewing! I am so glad to hear that you love the story! If I got Lily and James together it'd be boring! And you know it! Haha

**secondatbat9: **Hey! Thank you so much for all the reviews! I do tend to write long chapters...but I love writing them that way and not too many people really complain about them! I'm glad that you aren't one of those few! Haha I know about Figg...I started writing before OotP came out...I know that was a long time ago...but afterwards I made some comment about her mother being a squib...hence Arabella being Figg's daughter. I don't know if she had one but I don't think it said she did. Anyway this story is kinda alternate universe after OotP. Lily and James will kiss eventually. Don't you worry! I'm glad that you enjoyed it! And I tried to update as fast as I could!!

**limbo-gal: **Thanks for the review! I'm glad that you liked the end. Everyone seemed happy with that scene! I'm really glad it was one of my favorites to write. They will discover each other's feelings soon...as you can tell I'm already leading up to that. As for them kissing or getting together? You'll just have to wait and see!

**siriusforeva: **Thanks for the review! I'm glad you thought it was funny. I guess you could look at the way the story's going as 'dragging it on' but I prefer stories where they're not tearing each other's clothes off in the second chapter :-). It's just my writing style and I'm sure that they'll come around soon. I do control them! But thanks for reviewing once again!


	11. Are You Serious?

**Summary: **Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything. That's right nothing. I'd like to thank the wonderful author (J.K.R.) for allowing me to borrow her characters for this story. It really made my day. I immensely enjoyed borrowing them for this fic.

**Author's Note: **Well, everyone. I am so sorry that I took so long to update. It really was not very nice of me to keep you all waiting this long. I have my reasons, I don't feel the need to express them all right now but if you really are that curious you are always welcome to ask me. I am not dead (obviously).

But I am very sad to tell you all that this will be the final chapter of _Excuse Me Miss Evans _I have loved this fic to no end and I am really sad that it is finished. I was planning on making it much longer, as you probably were all aware, I told everyone that it would be 17 chapters, but the story seemed to have run stale and I had changed so much of my original planning that I was at a loss of how to continue my previous path while having just made James and Lily realize their feelings for each other. So, after much deliberation, I decided to cut the other chapters out and I am just going to finish this fic.

There is going to be a sequel. It shall be titled _Will you, Miss Evans? _I believe. It might be changed. I've actually started that and it should be up fairly soon. I wouldn't count on it being extremely soon though, you know me.

I can't begin to tell you how much all of your contributions have meant to me over the past year as I've been writing this story but I can't tell you that every single review that you gave me and every comment of praise has been so needed and really helped me with this story and I hope that you will all continue to read the sequel and that you will continue to give me your heartfelt feedback. It really means a lot to me.

So now that I'm finished with my essay-on with the story!

…………………………………………………………

**Excuse Me Miss Evans**

**Chapter Eleven: Are You Serious?**

**By: Eyeshadow5746**

………………………………………………………

Lily walked into the room with a false sense of confidence that maybe if she tried hard enough she really would look like she knew what she was going to do. She let out a sigh as she saw James, Sirius, and Arabella sitting at the table drinking coffee. It really was going to be much harder than she had anticipated if Sirius and Arabella were standing there.

_'How on Earth am I supposed to get James alone without the two of them making catcalls from the other room? It's sometimes just too much trouble. Maybe I should just walk in there and snog the living daylight out of James while they're right there.' _

Lily grimaced slightly after her thought. She watched as Arabella and Sirius turned toward her with knowing smiles, and did not even attempt to leave their seats to give the two of them some privacy.

_'Really, I should just snog him. That's what they want me to do anyway. They're baiting me. I can see it in their eyes.' _

Lily sent an icy glare in Arabella's direction. She had obviously told Sirius of Lily's situation and the two of them were obviously looking forward to the events that were sure to occur this morning.

However, if the two of them weren't planning on leaving soon, it could be the afternoon by the time Lily decided to do anything, and if they still were so persistant, it could even be the next day.

_'Bloody hell, it's their own bloody faults.' _

Lily pulled out a chair and flopped herself into it, willing herself to not look at James and make a fool of herself. She did manage to get a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye and noticed that he had watched her intently over the top of his cup and was trying to hide the fact that he was.

Lily now had the problem of trying to control her blush as Arabella and Sirius just watched James watching her. And then they would turn their attention on Lily, trying not to watch James and trying not to blush.

There really could be no good outcome out of this conversation.

"Did you have a good night's rest, Lily? Get some things sorted out that you were worried about last night?" Arabella asked in a sweet voice that really was not characteristic of her.

_'She knows what she's doing. That bloody girl. I can't believe her! I'm going to hurt her so bad later.' _Lily thought. _'After I bloody snog James.'_

"Lily!" Sirius began in a very fake expression that James immediately rolled his eyes at, "I didn't realize that you were worried about something! Whatever could it have been?"

Lily shot them back a death glare before responding, "It was nothing at all and I am perfectly fine of handling myself, thank you."

Arabella smirked and Lily groaned.

"Do you have to be watching my every move! You two are like bloody flies. Just _leave me alone_," Lily snapped before standing up from the table angrily and leaving the room in a huff.

"It must be the red hair." Sirius laughed and Arabella smiled at him as if the two of them had accomplished a big feet.

"Go after her, Jamsie, that's what she wants," Sirius urged as he took another drink of his coffee and then looked at his friend once more.

James watched the two of them for a second and finally stood up, pushed his chair in, and walked out of the kitchen door to find Lily and figure out what was going on. The three of them were acting very strange this morning and he knew something was up, but it was beyond him as to what it could possibly be.

"Lily?" James called softly as he walked down the hallway to the rooms in the back.

He pushed open the door to his bedroom and found Lily sitting at a chair by his windowsill looking at white clouds in the sky outside. He didn't say anything at first and instead just walked inside his room.

It only took him a second before he turned around, locked the door, and placed a silencing charm over the room.

"They're bound to be listening through the cracks," James muttered, more to himself after he cast the charm and sent a glance to Lily pleading with her to speak first.

He really had no clue what to say and the fact that he wasn't quite sure _why _they were in the room made it even that much more harder for him to try and say something clever.

"How are you?" Lily asked, unsure of how to tell James.

"I'm alright, how are you?" James asked, shifting his weight around before finally sitting down on his bed.

"I've been better."

Lily and James just looked at each other with confused expressions before Lily finally took a deep breath.

"James, I know everything."

James's heart caught in his throat for second. Knowing _everything_ could mean a number of things and he wasn't sure what he should be feeling, especially because he wasn't quite sure what she was talking about.

"Everything?"

"I know how you feel about me."

Lily closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable laughter from James, the laughter that would come with a phrase such as 'you didn't actually think that I was talking about _you _did you?' But that laughter never came, and neither did the words.

Lily actually opened her eyes to find James staring at her with an expression similar to one that a deer has when he finds himself caught staring at two bright headlights.

"Or maybe I shouldn't have just assumed that it was me. Arabella told me that you really meant me, and after she said that it did seem to make some sense. But you never really said it was me and I wasn't sure what to think. I really shouldn't have said anything."

Lily flushed a deep red.

"I meant you."

Now it was time for Lily's heart to jump into her throat. After all of the rambling she had just done she hadn't expected James to actually jump out and admit that he was in love with her. It wasn't something that he would normally do. Nothing in this conversation was normal.

Lily never responded and James took that as a sign that she really had no answer for him.

"I can go now if you want me to. I wish you would've never known. I'm sorry if I ruined our friendship, but I just couldn't help it, Lily, "James apologized before he stood up from the bed.

Lily stood up from her chair so fast that it knocked down behind her and the rattling of the chair amplified her voice as she spoke quickly. "Don't leave!"

James sat back down as quickly as Lily had stood up and just stared at her with wide eyes. Lily stared back at him.

Lily wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed but she knew that it had been quite a while and that James was probably just as nervous, if not more, than she was. She wasn't sure what her problem was, but it just seemed that James had an easier time of admitting with a simple 'yes' than she did of saying 'I love you too."

It was really a fight that should not have been happening in her mind. There was nothing to lose, she knew how she felt and she knew he felt the same way. But still the friendly fire was tearing up her mind and making her doubt herself so much that her mind had not really realized the fact that James had actually admitted to loving her.

"James," Lily began.

"Don't say anything that you don't mean, Lily," James commanded before Lily was able to swallow and continue with what she was going to say.

"James," Lily began once more.

"Lily, you don't need to say anything to me if you don't feel the same way. I understand. Don't make this harder for either one of us," James implored.

"James," Lily tried once again.

"Lily," James began in an attempt to tell her something else to try and make her stop talking but Lily blurted out before he had a chance to respond.

"I love you too!"

James watched Lily in shock for a moment before he stood up from his chair slowly. Lily was standing up with her face bright red and the most open expression he had ever seen her wear.

With the perfect grace and timing as always a loud pop appeared right inbetween Lily and James's startled expressions. James let out the breath he had been holding and became slightly flustered and angered at what seemed to be their millionth interruption.

Peter Pettigrew stood right in the middle of Lily and James with a shocked expression. "I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"

Lily responded with a shake of her head before James was able to shout out that he had just ruined the single most perfect moment in his life.

Lily walked over to the door and wish a swish of her wand it was open, Peter walked out, followed by Lily and James who shared one small smile before they too left the room.

**XXX**

James and Lily reached the kitchen first and they could see the excitement light up in Arabella and Sirius's eyes before they caught a glimpse of Peter and the hope fell from their faces.

"Peter, always such impeccable timing," Sirius teased as he caught eyes with James and sent him a sorrowful expression. Lily watched the two of them with a slight smile on her face. She would have never thought that Sirius would have had a bone of sympathy in his body. But then again, she would have never had thought she would have fallen in love with James Potter either.

"What's going on?" Peter asked, seeing everyone giving everyone else glances, especially Lily and James who seemed to be locking eyes the most often as if the two of them were waiting to escape from the group any second now.

"Nothing," Lily blurted out quickly, sensing Arabella and Sirius's ears perking up at his question.

James laughed lightly at Peter's confused expression and Arabella opened her mouth as if to respond with something before catching Lily and James exchange another pitiful glance at each other.

She sent Sirius a look that clearly meant that he needed to do something quick and Sirius looked at James and Lily before opening his mouth to speak.

"Hey James," Sirius began as he looked at Arabella with a confused expression, "Do you think that you and Lily could go look for my library book? It's overdue."

Arabella rolled her eyes at Sirius and Peter just stared at him before he burst out laughing. "Sirius, you don't go to the library! And why do James and Lily both have to go? Is James incapable of finding it himself?"

Sirius gaped at Peter, as if he was amaxzed that Peter would have noticed all the holes in Sirius's suggestion.

Arabella quickly responded, "It's really my book, and it's in James's room, but Lily knows what it looks like."

"Why does James have it?"

James looked at Sirius and Arabella who were looking at him, as if waiting for him to come up with the next lie.

"Don't look at me, I've never seen it, and I don't want to know how they got it in there."

Peter seemed to accept that as an answer and before Arabella and Sirius knew what had happened James and Lily had left the tension filled kitched and were walking down the quiet hallway back toward James's room.

Once they entered James threw a locking charm at the door while Lily threw a silencing charm and they turned to face each other.

"Did you mean that?" James whispered, despite the fact that no one else in the flat could hear them.

Lily nodded her head.

James looked at his feet nervously before looking back up to meet Lily's eyes. "Where do we stand then?"

James immediately smacked himself mentally after that question. It was obvious that they were going to be more than friends if both of them had just admitted to being in love with each other. And it was obviously his turn to ask Lily to be his girlfriend, not for him to expect her to tell him.

Lily watched James before shrugging her shoulders in an attempt to make him make his own move.

James closed his eyes before trying to make words come out of his mouth once again. He wasn't sure at what point in their relationship it had become hard to talk to Lily, but it was now, and James was not having any luck.

"Well, I love you," James spoke. He could not believe how hard and fast his heart was beating in his chest. It seemed impossible that telling Lily that he loved her when she already knew he did and he already knew she loved him back could be this hard.

But it was and James could feel his palms go sweaty before he licked his lips and prepared to continue.

"And appearantly you love me."

"I said I did," Lily huffed as she rolled her eyes at James. He wasn't quite sure of how she could be so calm during this conversation, and how she could still act as she normally did when James had a hard time just being alive locked in this room with her.

"And you love me," James corrected himself.

Lily nodded her head in agreement.

"So, we love each other," James began once again.

Lily rolled her eyes and finally blurted out, "James, if you're going to ask me out, please just do it."

"You know, you could always just ask, if you don't like the way I'm going about it," James retaliated, losing his nervousness, for just a second, before it returned full force after the shock of what he had just said to Lily hit him.

_'I am such a bloody idiot.' _James thought.

Lily smirked at James. "So you can be smart to me but you can't ask me out?"

"That would be where this conversation seems to be headed, yes," James meekly replied.

"How hard can it be?" Lily asked as she smiled up at James that made him realize exactly how hard such a simple question could really be.

"Hard," James breathed.

"You're making it into such a big deal. We've already admitted that we're in love. We're practically dating anyway. Just ask me," Lily insisted.

"It's not that easy! I can't just ask you like it's nothing!" James responded.

"Yes, you can! And that's what you're going to do right now!" Lily exclaimed, her green eyes becoming a little darker with each second that passed.

"Lily!" James pleaded.

"Look James, it's not like you're confessing you're in love with me. You've already done that. It's not like you're telling me your deepest darkest secret. We both know that you're going to ask me to be your girlfriend. You're not proposing, you already know that I'm going to say yes. What is the big deal?"

James let out a sigh, "Can't you just ask?"

"If it weren't under these condititions then yes I would, but since you're being such a chicken about it I'm going to watch you squirm." Lily smirked.

James let out a sigh.

Lily just sighed right back.

"You aren't exactly making this any easier for me!" James said as he watched Lily just laugh.

"You aren't making it easy on yourself."

"Lily, it's harder than you think it is."

"James, will you be my boyfriend?"

James stared with his mouth wide open in shock. He couldn't believe that Lily had just asked him that, especially since he was seemingly unable to ask her himself.

"You're not supposed to ask me, Lily!" James announced with a very frusterated voice.

"You weren't exactly planning on doing it anytime soon, I thought I'd save a little bit of our time."

"I was getting there!" James exclaimed with exasperation.

Lily just watched him for a few minutes before she finally spoke once again. "You still haven't asked me."

"I can't believe that you asked me."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I asked you, get over it. And you've still yet to ask me or answer my question.

With Lily and James's luck they were bound to be in the room all afternoon. James was not giving way with his asking the question and simply refused to answer Lily's. The two of them were arguing so intently that they didn't notice another person apparate into James's bedroom.

"You're not asking _or_ answering!" Lily exclaimed, the anger evident in her eyes. Her face was flushed as well and the newcomer in the room felt that he shouldn't make his appearance known just yet.

"You're not letting me ask you!" James retorted.

"You should just answer mine! What is so horrible about me asking you?" Lily responded again, her anger seeming to build with each comment James was making.

"Because I've always imagined that I would be the one to ask you. Never the other way around, I can't just give up on my dreams!"

The visitor seemed to sense that this was not a conversation that he should be witnessing and quickly moved to the door, hoping that in their heated argument, Lily and James would not notice him slip out of the room quickly.

However, he was not aware of the fact that a locking charm had been placed on the door, and after giving the door a loud pull, Lily and James knew that he was in the room.

It happened to be right at the moment when Lily had almost launched herself on top of James and the two of them tripped and fell in a tangle of arms and legs on the floor staring up with wide eyes at Remus Lupin.

"Sorry, guys, I apparated into the wrong room," Remus responded sheepishly, trying not to look too happy about the fact that Lily and James had been arguing about who was going to ask who out.

"How long have you been in here?" James snapped.

"Not very long." Remus spoke, but the slight blush creeping up his neck suggested otherwise.

"You can't tell Arabella or Sirius anything!" James shrieked in a voice that made Lily laugh at him.

"Can you just let me out?" Remus asked, very uncomfortable that he had witnessed this event, aside from the fact that Lily and James had caught him.

"Of course," Lily replied, quickly moving out of her compromising position with James and went to wave her wand at the door and the three friends walked out of the door with very red faces.

**XXX**

After Remus joined the group Lily found it to be the moment when she realized that she had something to do back at her flat. So she quickly said goodbye to everyone, making sure not to look in anyone's eye and left the place before anyone could say anything back to her.

The rest of the group watched James as if to ask him why he scared her off. Arabella and Sirius found the whole situation highly amusing, Peter was watching Remus and James as if they should explain, and Remus was watching James with the most amused expression he could find.

"What happened this time?" Arabella managed to choke out as she smirked at James.

"Nothing!" James blurted out as fast as he could.

"That not what I heard," Remus teased.

"shut it," James muttered, but it was already too late.

"What did you hear?" Sirius asked, jumping up and down like a little boy.

"Lily asked-"

James shot Remus such a pitiful look that Remus stopped in mid sentence and quickly tried to change the subject. "Lily asked James what's been going on these past few days. Everyone's been acting strange and she's caught on."

Arabella glared at Remus, because it was evident that he had changed the story. "Why'd you all come out blushing then?"

"Where they snogging?" Peter piped up.

"They were probably shagging," Sirius muttered.

James had another quick outburst. "WE WERE NOT SHAGGING OR SNOGGING!"

"They weren't," Remus began, but smirked at James before continuing, "But they were pretty close."

"And you ruined it?" Arabella asked bitterly.

"I didn't mean to!"

"You could've hid!"

"I tried to sneak out that's how they caught me!"

Remus and Arabella were so caught up in their fight, along with Peter and Sirius who were just beginning to join in that no one noticed James quickly leave the room and aparate from the living room.

The fighting in the kitchen just continued on.

**XXX**

James appeared in Lily's living room moments later. Lily walked out of the kitchen and stopped dead upon seeing James in her living room. "Did they send you?"

"No, they're all arguing over exactly what we were doing in my room still," James began nervously. It seemed that even though they had already broken the tension between them in his room, it was back full force with the fact that they had been caught in such a position.

"James, it's really not that bad, it's not as if no one had ever caught us in a position like that before."

"I know," James said as he began to blush, "But it was just different this time."

"How can you say that was any different. The only thing different was the fact that we were in your bedroom but appearantly it really makes no difference where we are to them."

"Well they didn't notice that I left," James began as he started to blush to an even darker red, "So I think we're pretty safe now."

"They're going to notice you're gone eventually."

"It's Sirius and Arabella we're talking about. They're going to take a while."

Lily smiled. "Maybe it's just you that takes a while."

James didn't respond, but instead was watching Lily in a way that made her start to blush as well.

"You know, if they find us here alone they're really going to think we're shagging," Lily pointed out to James.

It was that moment that James realized exactly how close the two were standing to each other and how flushed both of their faces must be. They were standing right by a sofa and James's unsteady entrance had knocked a couple pillows to the floor.

He couldn't help but blush more at the thought.

"We're fully clothed," James croacked out.

"Then we'll have been snogging."

James took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. Lily was standing very close to him and he couldn't just forget the fact that they had been so close to kissing only a few moments before. The feel of her hands was still on his mind and he opened his eyes to find Lily looking at him strangely.

"One of these days they're really going to catch us snogging. Then what'll you do?" Lily laughed, not realizing what she had just said.

"So we're going to be snogging on of these days?" James responded, trying to keep his voice even.

"Most likely, unless we keep getting interrupted our whole lives."

"Would one of these days be soon?" James asked as he lowered his head closer to Lily's. He could feel her breath on his neck and he involuntarily closed his eyes.

"I'd assume so."

Lily was so close that he could feel her but before their lips touched Lily's owl came flying in through the window and swooped so close to Lily's head that she shrieked.

"Bloody hell!" Lily yelled to no one in particular as she grabbed the letter from the owl, who sensed that Lily was angry and flew off before Lily had a chance to shout some more.

"Lily," James began.

"Who would bloody send me a bloody letter right bloody now?" Lily asked, clearly frusterated as she tore open the letter.

James just looked down at his feet.

"Bloody Arabella always bloody messes things up!" Lily said as she threw the letter to the ground in agitation.

"What'd she say?" James asked, his curiousity getting the better of him.

"She bloody wanted to know where you and I bloody were and if we'd settled our bloody differences yet," Lily continued ranting and James had to laugh at the amount of times she used the word bloody.

"Lily, you've used the word bloody about twenty times already," James laughed, but quickly stopped as Lily turned her angry eyes to meet his.

"Bloody hell, James! Aren't you angry that they keep bloody interrupting us. They're doing it on purpose and you know it!" Lily exclaimed as she threw her hands up in the air.

"You can just ignore the letter," James suggested slightly as he inched closer to Lily, who was not noticing his advancements now that she had become so worked up.

"It's bloody annoying, I can't just ignore the fact that bloody Arabella sent it!"

James at this time was standing so close to Lily, that had she been paying attention, she would have been blushing to her toes. Instead she was still complaining using bloody to describe any word that it could easily go in front of and James was still finding the whole situation highly amusing.

Finally, he grabbed her shoulders and made Lily face him. "Lily, you've forgotten the fact that Arabella sent you a letter. She didn't just show up. We're still alone."

Lily looked around the flat for a second, then at how close James was standing to her, and then she looked up into James's eyes that were coming closer to hers by the second. Lily was just about to close hers when two pops were heard and Arabella and Sirius appeared right in front of her.

"BLOODY HELL!" Lily yelled again, causing James's eyes to fly open and for him to take a jump back. Which unfortunately was right by the coffee table and caused him to end up sprawled out of the floor by Arabella and Sirius's feet.

"Are you two really that slow?" Arabella laughed.

Lily glared at Arabella before she grabbed her arm and forced her into the kitchen. Sirius and James just stared at Lily in amazement.

"Wow," Sirius laughed.

"You should've seen her when you sent the letter," James murmured as he and Sirius exchanged looks.

In the kitchen Lily was already busy yelling at Arabella.

"Arabella! You say you're trying to bloody help but you ruined everything! You don't understand. We were _so close_ two times! Two! And you had to ruin BOTH OF THEM!"

Arabella looked shocked for a second but quickly responded. "Lily, if you weren't so thick you wouldn't even know that he was in love with you and you wouldn't even be trying to snog him."

"No! That is not true! I've been trying to snog him for so long, Arabella and you know it. You know that I've been in love with him. And now that we both know how each other feels you keep ruining it. Is this some sick joke?"

"You can still snog him. He's still standing right out there."

"I can't when you and Sirius are here!"

"Well, go to a different room," Arabella suggested angrily and stomped out of the kitchen. Lily screamed and threw her hands up in the air before following Arabella out to join the rest of the group.

**XXX**

Lily could not sleep, not for the life of her. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was one in the morning and she rolled over again.

_'We were so close. I'm not even officially his girlfriend yet. After all that trouble we got nowhere. We're not dating and I still haven't snogged him!' _Lily thought.

She glanced at the clock again. It hadn't even changed.

"I give up," Lily muttered to herself as she threw a robe over her pants and t-shirt and apparated to James's room.

"James?" Lily whispered as she shook him lightly. She prayed that he wasn't loud when he woke up and that Sirius hadn't heard her aparate in here. That was never a good idea.

Lily let out a sigh of relief when James only sleepily opened his eyes and muttered, "Huh."

Lily shook him again. "James!"

James opened his eyes and grabbed his glasses before focusing in on Lily. He looked at the clock and seeing the time he looked back at Lily quizzitively.

"What's wrong?" James asked as he rached out for Lily's hand.

"I just couldn't sleep."

"So you came here?" James asked, his eyebrows rasied.

"It was today," Lily began, "We didn't get anywhere and I just couldn't sleep."

"Are we supposed to do something about it now?" James asked while yawning.

"Well, what are the chances that we'll get interrupted now?" Lily smirked through the darkness as she could see James tighten the blankets around his bare chest.

"We'd be teased for the rest of our lives if Sirius found us in my room together at one in the morning with our pajamas on."

Lily just shrugged her shoulders. "At least I could go home and sleep."

"Lily, I'm tired. Can we please talk about this tomorrow? We'll go somewhere that Sirius and Arabella won't look for us."

"Can you please just ask me?" Lily pleaded.

"What?"

"You never asked me, and that's bothering me," Lily whispered harshly.

"Lily, it's one in the morning."

"I can't sleep!"

"Someone's going to find you here!" James whispered softly as he watched the doorknob as if he were waiting for it to just start turning.

"Why won't you just ask me? Can't you see why I'm so bothered by this? You won't ask me out, but you seem to have no problem when it comes to trying to snog me. It's driving me mad!" Lily complained, her voice going up a little higher than it should.

"Lily, I can't ask you now," James whispered.

"Why not?"

"Because, it's not right. It needs to be perfect."

"James!" Lily exclaimed. "It doesn't need to be perfect. I don't want it to be perfect. Whenever you say it it'll be wonderful. I just need you to say it!"

"Lily," James breathed out as he ran his fingers over hers.

At that moment Lily heard footsteps coming down the hallway and she didn't even say goodbye but apparated as quickly as she had come, leaving James awake and confused in the middle of the night.

**XXX**

Lily woke up with a determination set in her mind that her problem was not going to bother her any longer. The sun was just beginning to peak it's way over the horizon and the soft hues of color made her smile slightly before she bolted into her bathroom to begin getting ready.

A short while later she emerged at Sirius and James's flat to see both James and Sirius sitting at the table, clearly having just woken up. Lily took a deep breath and then walked in the room, expressionless.

"I need to talk to James," Lily announced to Sirius, as if letting him know that she was not going to play games this time and that Sirius had better stay out of her life for the next few minutes or she would severely hurt him.

Sirius noticed the glance and the harsh way she spoke the words and quickly understood what Lily was tring to convey.

James glanced between Lily and Sirius and stood up from the table and walked into the other room. "Good morning, Lils."

Lily rolled her eyes. "James, just get on with it."

"Lily! You can't just barge in here at seven in the morning and expect everything to resolve itself. It doesn't work out that way. Why are you so bloody demanding?"

"James," Lily warned.

"No, Lily, I can't just ask you like this. Sirius is in the other room, Arabella and Remus are going to come over here any minute, and I'm in my boxers." James blushed at his last comment.

"James, get it through your thick head that I really don't care. I'm sick of these past few months and I just want it all to be over," Lily whined as she stopped her foot to emphasize the word over.

"So you're sick of me?"

"I never said I was sick of _you_. I said I was sick of you and me dancing around each other like we don't have any feelings for each other when we really do. Do you not think that I've spent countless hours wondering about how you've felt and now that I _finally _know you're just keeping the charade going? I want you to do something now." Lily finished her tirade with her teeth clenched and her hands rolled into fists at her side.

"Lily," James sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Stop that," Lily snapped as she grabbed his hand and forced it down to his side.

"Lily, don't be so demanding," James growled right back, fully realizing that he was launching them into another argument that would merely prolong their real conversation about their relationship.

Lily just shook her head and continued to stare straight at James.

James stared straight back at Lily. He had come this far and he wasn't going to give up this easy.

"Lily," James finally said, not liking the staring contest that the two had engaged themselves in.

"Yes."

"Will you please by my girlfriend?" James asked in an attempt to calm down their fight and to continue go eating his breakfast. He opened his eyes that he had clenched tightly shut in order to block whatever Lily would be throwing at him next and opened them to see Lily staring at him with a shocked expression and Arabella and Remus leaning on the sofa for support through their laughter.

"Bloody hell! Stop interrupting us! You two have ruined almost every chance that Lily and I have had of actually solving this situation and here you go again!" James shouted at the two of them before turning to Lily.

"Lily, I love you, please."

Lily raised her eyebrows at the fact that Sirius had just walked into the room atter hearing James's outburst and now there were three people watching the whole scene as if it were a movie.

"Alright."

"Alright?" James asked. "You've been yelling at me this entire time to ask you out and all I get is an alright?"

James threw his hands up in frustration. "Lily, what do you want from me?"

"What do you want me to say, James? I can say I'd love to and fall at your feet if that's what you've been imagining this entire time," Lily shot back.

"I was just saying it would have been nice to have seen a little emotion. Now it sounds like don't care. Do you know how unnerving that is?" James asked.

"James, you're making this into too big of a problem."

"I am? You're the one who came over here and demanded that I ask you!"

"But you're the one who refused to let me ask you. I'm just trying to get this moving along."

"Bloody hell, Lily. Just because I wanted to be the one to ask doesn't mean you have to hold it against me the whole time!"

By this time Sirius, ARabella, and Remus were highly intruiged in the conversation and Lily and James seemed to have forgotten they were even in the room.

"Really, James, What do you want me to do? Do you want me to show emotion?"

"Yes!" James exclaimed.

Lily glared at James for just a second before taking a few quick steps toward him. James's eyes grew wide.

_'Is she going to hit me? Please don't let her hit me.' _James thought as he clenched his eyes closed.

Lily simply reached his shoulders, pushed him back against the wall and quickly placed her mouth on his. James's eyes flew open for a second, clearly not expecting that action out of Lily, but gently closed his eyes again as one of Lily's hands found their way to his hair.

He allowed himself to relax in the kiss that he had been anticipating for months now. He was going crazy. The feel of Lily in his arms had been exactly what he had imagined but kissing her was even better.

He wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss, clearly forgetting that their friends were all still in the room watching them with slightly disturbed expressions on their faces.

**The End**

**Author's Note: **Wow. I got that chapter done in record time. It only took me two hours. I really enjoyed this fic. I love it. I haven't had this chapter betaed yet, just so you know. But I am going to be reviewing this fic for mistakes and posting up the real edited and fixed up versions eventually. It's not going to change or anything. But it can't help to reread.

I want to thank everyone who contributed to the makig of this story. I can't possibly name all of your names because there are way too many but if you ever betaed for me or commented on an early portion of a chapter it really meant a lot and it really helped my story.

And as to everyone who reviewed. I don't have enough time right now to list out all your names or to leave you a comment. But I want you to know that every review has meant so much to me and I can't thank you enough in my lifetime. I hope that you all stick around to read "Will You, Miss Evans." And that you all leave such nice feedback as you did on this one.

Once again, Thank you so much!

**Brittney **


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